Susurrus
by DragonFable
Summary: Beyond Birthday has found a way of escaping jail; threatening to kill his psychiatrist's prison guard husband. And now that he's out, he's only got one thing on mind: revenge.
1. Chapter 1

Beyond Birthday lay on the grey bed in his cell, silently grinding the edge of a rock against the bed frame as he waited. He grinned to himself as minutes passed and ran the tip of his index finger along the rock's edge, testing how sharp it had become. The skin was sliced open and blood began to fill the small and narrow gap.

He waited a minute before resuming his work on sharpening.

It was another ten minutes before she actually showed up. When her silhouette appeared in front of the bars, Beyond tucked the rock away in his pocket and swung his feet down onto the floor before actually sitting up. He slid down to the floor on his knees as she fiddled with the keys, looking for the right one.

"Where the hell is the lock, anyway…?" she muttered, glancing the bars up and down.

"The very bottom, oddly enough," Beyond answered, crawling towards the bars. He wrapped his hands around them and sat on his heels, watching her with a malicious grin as she kneeled down in front of the lock.

"… How did you find out about him, anyway?" she muttered after a brief moment of silence, only occasionally being interrupted by the jangle of keys.

"Your maiden name is not Keelahan, and you mentioned in earlier sessions your connection to the prison," he answered softly, leaning his forehead against the bars now.

"But how did you find out my name isn't Haliburton anymore?" she insisted, tilting her head up to see him from under the brim of the stolen prison guard hat.

"A magician never reveals his secrets," he smirked.

Her eyes narrowed into a glare before she turned the key and unlocked the door. "There," she muttered, standing up and swinging open the door as he, too, stood up. "Now, I have your word you'll leave--- Ack!"

Beyond had cut her off mid-sentence when he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pressed the sharpened rock edge to her neck. "Yes, you have my word; he is to be left alone. Unfortunately enough for you, however, I still need a hostage in order to get where I'm going, Ms. Nannie."

Nannie wrapped her hands around his arm and leaned back against him in a vain attempt to get away from the weapon as he spoke, sending her hat fluttering to the ground. "And where is it you're going?" she growled.

"Winchester, New England. Did you touch that with bare hands?" he asked.

"What, the hat? Yeah, why?"

"It has your finger prints on them, then," he sighed, shoving her towards it. "Pick it up; you don't want him to think you've run out on him, do you?" he asked, the crooked smirk back.

Nannie glared at him from over her shoulder before turning back towards the hat and stared at it silently, weighing her options. She could make a run for it and hopefully find another guard before he caught up to her, or she could stay and not risk losing an eye or finger.

"Go on…" he chided.

She drew in a deep breath and leaned over to snatch the hat from the ground. Just as she had bent over, however, Beyond slipped the gun out of its holster from her disguise. He brought his free hand back to the slide and hovered over it.

And then she broke into a sprint, the hat caught between two fingers which now curled into a fist.

Beyond smirked, shaking his head and pulled back the slide. The bullet entering the chamber sounded loudly and bounced against the dank corridor walls. "Nannie…" he called in a disapproving tone.

Nannie grimaced; there was no way to out run a homicidal maniac, let alone one with a loaded gun. She shouldn't have even tried, and regretted her decision as she came to a quick halt and slowly turned around.

"Our exit is the other way."

"So it is…" she muttered.

"B…?" came a groan from inside one of the other cells. "Is that you…?"

Beyond's face contorted into that of annoyance, the first real emotion displayed since Nannie arrived.

"What are you doing outside your cell?" the voice inquired as its owner trailed to their own caged door.

Beyond turned the gun on them and fired without a second's hesitation. The bullet shot through their skull and embedded itself in the blood-splattered concrete wall.

"You always were the one to get on my last nerve, Tryte," he muttered, glaring down at the body before recomposing his daunting demeanor and grin and turning the gun back on Nannie. "Shall we go then?"

Nannie stood still, frozen with fear as she stared at the lifeless body. "W-w-what…?"

"Can we please leave now? The schedule is bit tight, actually…" he sighed.

"P-please… Don't do this… T-take someone else, B-Birthday…" she stammered, taking a cautious step back.

"What a terrible thing for the supposedly self-sacrificing psychiatrist," Beyond snickered. "If it's death you're worried about, you're wasting your energy. If I was going to kill you, Ms. Haliburton - or Mrs. Keelahan, whichever you prefer - you would already be dead. Now hurry along, before my patience does wear thin."

Nannie hesitantly tore her eyes from the grotesque scene and stared back at Beyond, trembling.

"Dammit…" he muttered, lowering the gun as he impatiently walked towards her and roughly grabbed her arm. He jerked her forward and commenced to drag her along after him down the dark hall. "Why the hell do you now choose to fear murder after pretending to cure those who do murder's mind?"

"I-I've never actually seen one committed in person…" she admitted, still shaking.

He rolled his eyes. "That's something you'll soon be used to."


	2. Chapter 2

Nannie cringed as the first siren blared once Beyond's absence and the dead body he left behind became known. His grip was still tight around her forearm, making escape impossible now that they were outside. Still, she struggled against him.

"Let go…!" she snapped, trying to pry his hand off of her arm. He came to a sudden stop and yanked her towards him the instant she spoke and held the gun to the underside of her chin.

"Shut up or we'll be caught," he growled.

"How is that any incentive?" she muttered, lifting her head to avoid the gun.

"If you're caught with me now, you'll be charged with breaking a serial killer out of jail."

"Do you really think they'll take your word over mine?" she scoffed.

"It's not so hard to believe when you really think about it. You've finally reached the point of insanity after dealing with those who already are every day."

Nannie said nothing more and only glared at him. Beyond retracted the gun and turned around again, carrying on with dragging her out of the courtyard.

"I trust you followed my instructions exactly?" he asked once they were off the prison campus.

"Down to the color of the stupid Sedan…"

"The color didn't really matter, honestly, so long as it wasn't red."

"Why not red?"

"The same reason insurance companies make you pay more if your car is that color," he muttered.

"… And why's that?"

"What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a red car?"

"… A red car?"

"… Right. A _sports_ car. Sports cars are generally fast, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"So, a red car is more likely to attract attention from policemen who may pull the car over, whether they were actually speeding or not."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Oh… That kind of sucks, I guess…"

"Right. Where is it, then?"

"Uh… Over there, somewhere in the middle of that crowded mess," she pointed.

"And you brought a wig?"

"Yeah…"

"Clothes underneath the guard's uniform?"

"Uh-hunh…"

"Alright then, take off the disguise and put on the wig," he instructed, pocketing the gun and snatching the handcuffs from her belt.

"What do you need those for?" she complained.

"Just hurry up…" he muttered.

She glared at him briefly before turning her back to him and unbuttoning the shirt. "Why aren't you changing?" she muttered.

"Unnecessary."

"But you're still wearing the prison uniform, they'll see you right away!"

"I'm almost certain they'll be looking for you instead."

"What makes you say that?" she muttered, unfastening the belt now.

"You stand out more than I do."

"How?"

"How many people do you know with naturally pink hair?"

"Shut up, alright…?"

The next three minutes were spent in silence as Nannie traded the disguise for a new one. It took a few tries to perfect the wig and make sure every strand of her natural hair was concealed, which proved a little difficult as there was no wig cap to hold it all in place.

"There---"

"Good, come on," he interrupted, grabbing her wrist and dragging her off towards the car. He maneuvered his way through the other parked cars, Nannie lagging behind, until he finally reached the Sedan and released her wrist in order to open the car door for her. "Get in."

She did so silently and once she was seated, Beyond closed the door again and rounded the car to the driver's side. He stepped inside and grabbed her wrist again and snapped the handcuff around it before reaching across her to fasten the other end around the door handle. She watched him with a glare until his hand left her arm.

"Was that necessary?" she muttered.

"Completely," he shrugged, shutting his door and starting the car. He shifted the gears into reverse and backed out of the lot.

~*~

Nannie leaned against the car door with her elbow propped on the rest and her chin in her palm, while her bound hand hovered over her lap. Nearly an hour had passed in utter silence, and it was getting on her last nerve. She pondered over whether or not to make conversation to calm the irritation or not as she watched the shadowed blur of trees whiz by.

"Was everything you told me during our sessions a lie?" she asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Why?" he asked dully.

"You have a British accent now, but you didn't before, and you said you grew up in the States… Was it all a lie?"

"Yes."

"Then you weren't abused by your dad and your mother didn't run off?"

"Right."

"Were your parents assholes at all, then?"

"I don't know."

"Hunh…? How do you not know?"

"They're dead."

"…"

Nannie frowned slightly and turned her attention back to the window and drummed her fingers against her chin, not knowing if she should believe him this time.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said then.

He smirked slightly and shook his head. "We're here," he said in response, pulling into the back parking lot of an old and abandoned general store. He powered down the Sedan without further word and opened the door. Nannie frowned again as she watched him, praying that he wouldn't leave her out here for however long.

"What are we doing here?" she asked once he opened the door, much to her relief.

"Get out," he instructed after unlocking the handcuff from the door handle.

She complied, swinging her legs out and standing up again. "Why are we here?" she asked again.

He grabbed her wrist and shut the door, ignoring her still, and pulled her along with him towards the building's entrance. She rolled her eyes, giving up on getting an answer out of him for now and struggled to keep up with his stride.

Once inside, he turned to the right abruptly, causing Nannie to stumble and nearly fall to the ground. She glared at him, but continued to hurry after him.

Inside the building was completely dark with aisles of shelves scattered with who the hell knows what. Towards the back was a hidden flight of stairs, which Beyond was currently navigating towards. The steps were wooden and plagued with age rings, and every other one creaked as they ascended them.

At the very top was a shut door, which sent very ominous vibes at Nannie. She grimaced as Beyond opened the door and pulled her inside.

Once he flipped the light switch and released her wrist, all feelings of dread dissipated. It was barren for the most part, save for the ragged couch and a small television set on the floor in front of it. There were two other doors - both shut - and a single window on the South end of the building. One of the two doors had a rectangular piece of glass inserted in the middle of it, showing the railed awning above the store's entrance that it lead out to.

"You are by no means allowed in this room, understood?" Beyond asked, snapping her out of her observations. He stood in front of the other closed door with his hand behind him and on the doorknob, staring at her blankly.

"Uh… Yeah… What's in there?"

"Never mind," he answered, opening the door behind him and slipped inside, closing it again. She stared at the door silently for a moment before sighing wearily and pulling off the wig. She dropped it to the ground and trailed sullenly towards the couch and fell back on it.


	3. Chapter 3

Liam woke the next morning hunched over at his desk. The laptop sat open in front of him, and the screen had gone dull. He stared at it blankly for a short moment before shaking his head and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He pushed the chair back and stood up, pushing it back in under the desk and starting off towards the room.

He pushed the door open and leaned forward in it with his hand on the door frame. "Nannie, it's morn--- … Nannie?" he asked hesitantly, frowning when he found the bed empty.

"Hunh…" he sighed, pulling back out of the room. "She must have went in early…" He turned back out of the room and trailed back down the hall to the kitchen.

He pulled a glass cup from the cupboard and set it in the sink before positioning the faucet over it and turning on the tap.

He hovered over the sink absently, waiting for the glass to fill until the phone rang. He glanced at it wearily from over his shoulder before sighing again. He turned then to take the receiver from its cradle on the wall.

"Hello?"

"Keelahan, there's been a breach…" came a forlorn voice from the other end.

"… Who was it this time?"

"Prisoner one-oh-one-eight…"

"That BB guy?"

"Yeah, him. Come down here and check it out? He killed that one retarded guy, too. Tryte, was it?"

"Don't say that word, Lynch…" Liam sighed. "I'll be there in twenty minutes," he muttered, hanging up the phone and hurried out the door, leaving the faucet on.

"Damn, that is gruesome…" Liam grimaced as he turned the victim's head slightly to the side to get a better view of the wound. He glanced up at the wall where the bullet shot and shook his head before standing up again. "And he hasn't said anything to anyone of escaping?"

"He hardly talked to anyone, just Deacon," one of the guards, Davis, behind him answered.

Liam nodded, staring down at the body again. "Alright… Two of you interrogate Deacon, the other can go watch the surveillance feed outside his cell. I'll go down to Ridgeview and ask Nannie if he's told her anything. We need to find him before anyone else notices he's missing…"

"You know, that BB guy was a little full of himself… You reckon that was why he killed the retard?" Lynch mused aloud.

"Dammit, Lynch! I told you not to say that word anymore…"

~*~

"I need to speak with Nannie Keelahan as soon as possible - it's urgent," Liam said once at the mental hospital to one of the front desk girls.

"Regarding?" the girl asked dully without looking up from the computer.

"One of her patients, Beyond Birthday or something like that…"

"One moment…" she sighed, typing furiously away at the keyboard without the slightest change of expressions. "I'm sorry, but according to the schedule, Nannie _Haliburton_ hasn't clocked in today."

"No…?" Liam frowned. "And you have no idea where she is?"

"There are too many therapists here to really keep tabs on every single one of them," she sighed.

"But then…" he trailed, his frown growing. His pager began to beep loudly then, causing him to jump before fumbling with it off his belt to see the number. "Shit… Excuse me," he said quietly, turning abruptly and hurrying outside.

With the pager back on his belt, he stopped in front of the nearest payphone and checked the coin return for any loose change. Fortunately enough for him, there was enough to make a call with. He quickly inserted the coins and dialed the number.

"Hello?" he asked hesitantly when the other line picked up.

"Hey, Keelahan - Deacon didn't know anything. But Lynch found something on the tape you might want to see…"

"What…? What is it?" Liam asked, his mouth going dry.

"Just come see for yourself. We'll try talking to Deacon again…"

Liam nodded silently, fearing the worst as he replaced the phone back on the hook and stepped back in his car.

~*~

"Alright Lynch, I'm here, what is it?" Liam asked the instant he walked into the monitor room.

"Come look," Lynch answered automatically, kicking his feet off the desk and leaning forward to rewind the tape. "Wait until the hat falls off… See? Look - pink hair," he said, pausing the tape for him.

Liam stared at the screen, numbed by what he saw. "Nannie…?"

"Assuming so… Oh, and look…! She tries to get away and there he goes, shooting the re--- … Tryte… Shooting Tryte…"

Liam ignored him this time, storming out of the room and down towards the first interrogation room just down the corridor and slammed open the door.

"Honestly, he'd only teach me things whenever I found him in the library… And even then, I had to ask for it," Deacon was explaining.

"Keelahan…!" Davis exclaimed, startled. "What are you doing…?"

Liam ignored him as well, going straight for Deacon. He pulled the thin boy out of his chair and slammed him into the wall. "Where are they?" he demanded.

"'They'? I thought only Beyond escaped?" Deacon yelped, hiding his face behind his hands.

"Keelahan! Control yourself!" Davis commanded, while he and the other guard moved to restrain him.

"Where are they!?" Liam cried.

Beyond sat on his feet on the railing outside on the awning, with his arms folded over his knees and his chin rested on his arms. He stared listlessly at the road below as it turned reddish-orange from the setting sun.

Nannie had been watching him through the windowed door out of boredom, and only now decided to turn the knob and step out. "Hey… What are you doing out here?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

"Thinking," he answered curtly.

"About what…?"

"Plans."

"Oh… Well, uhm… Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"

"I see no way to stop you."

"And will you answer honestly this time?"

"No guarantees."

"Oh, come on, Birthday…!" she complained. "It's not so hard to answer honestly, you know. See, I'll show you - ask me anything."

"How much do you weigh?"

" I --- … Well, hey now, that was a low blow…" she muttered.

"You said anything."

"Do you honestly want to know?"

"No."

"Then why ask?"

"Because you said 'anything'."

"Are you always such an ass?"

"Try asking again later…"

"How come you were so patronizing last night, but now you're hardly talking?"

"I've a lot to think about."

"Right…"

"Are you done, then?"

"With what?"

"Asking questions."

"Oh, right… No. Did your parents really die? Or are you just jerking my chain again?"

"They're dead."

"How?"

"One by a mugger, the other in a train accident."

"Were your orphaned?"

"Yep."

"What age?"

"Seven."

"Did the train accident happen after the mugging?"

"Yep."

"Were you on the train?"

"No."

"Who was watching you while your parent was on the train?"

"No one."

"Then why weren't you on the train?"

"Didn't want to go on."

"Why not?"

"You shouldn't sit on the rail like that…"

"Why not?"

"Because you could easily be pushed off and fall to your death. And right now, it is a very tempting notion."

"Why didn't you want to get on the train?" she persisted, glancing down absently at the ground. "What are you talking about, that wouldn't kill---" She yelped when Beyond placed his hand on her back and shoved her off.

She landed on the hard ground on her feet, sending a searing pain shooting up her leg as a sickening crack sound. Inertia forced her to topple over onto her side and stay there, doubled over in pain until she finally passed out from both shock and pain.

Beyond unfurled his other hand to reveal a folded up newspaper clipping. He unfolded it carefully and read the large headline.

'**WORLD REKNOWN DECTECTIVE MAKES PUBLIC CHALLENGE AGAINST KIRA IN JAPAN**.'

"L…" he growled, crushing the paper in his hand.


	4. Chapter 4

L remained sitting at the desk after the last of the small Task Force has left for the night. A laptop sat open in front of him, playing the master copies of the cassette from the second Kira with the cassette player hooked into the machine. On the desk beside the laptop was a cold cup of coffee and a bowl filled with sugar cubes.

"Ryuzaki…" came a weary voice behind him.

"Hmm," L mumbled in response without tearing his eyes from the screen.

"I'm afraid we face getting found out again," the voice sighed.

L frowned slightly and bit down on his thumb as he hesitantly turned to look over his shoulder. "What is it this time, Watari?"

"We've had the prison and psychiatric hospital bugged, as I'm sure you know well…" Watari trailed. "And it was through those bugs that Roger heard about Beyond escaping prison and taking a hostage with him."

"How long ago did he escape?"

"Just last night."

"Has it been made public to America yet?"

"Not that we know of."

"Then we can open a search for him on the side. Kira will still remain top priority."

"Shall I send someone from the orphanage?"

"If you see fit; neither Mello or Near, however."

"I understand," Watari nodded and turned to leave.

L turned his attention back to the screen, biting down on his thumb again as he lowered his chin to his knees and rewound the tape.

Nannie woke later in the night, laying on the couch. Her legs were propped upon the arm with two sturdy sticks tied on either side of her right leg.

"Is it broken?" she wondered aloud with a frown as she stared down at her leg.

"No, it's just a sprain," Beyond answered absently. He was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, staring at the television screen intently as it played a foreign news channel.

"… Can you understand what they're saying? What language is that?"

"Yes; Japanese."

"… Why are you watching it?"

"No particular reason," he answered. Once the calligraphic L showed on the screen, Beyond clicked the Polaroid camera's button.

"Are you taking pictures?"

"Why don't you go back to sleep…?" he muttered, taking out the picture and turning off the television, and then stood up and stole away into the other room.

Nannie watched him off with a frown before turning back to the blank television screen. She gripped the back of the couch and pulled herself into a sitting position. She winced slightly as she slid her hands under her injured leg and hoisted it off the couch and gently down on the floor.

She paused for a moment then, staring down at the two sticks with a contemplating frown. "Wait a minute… He said it was a sprain… What are these for, then?" she complained. She attempted to undo the first knot, but found it too intricate to deal with and resorted to finding something with a sharp edge.

She swung her other leg off the couch and carefully got down onto to her knee and hands, the restrained leg out behind her now as she crawled around. After several minutes, her attempts had bore no fruit and she stuck to sitting down on the floor in front of the couch and turning the television on.

She folded her arms over her chest with a scowl as the screen faded on, but it wasn't on the same Japanese new channel. She frowned again, this time confused. She inched forward towards the television and reached for the small buttons on the bottom and surfed through the channels, searching for the one Beyond had been watching earlier.

She grew frustrated after running through all thirteen channels without luck and shut off the television. She used the television to help herself back up to her feet. She glanced towards the shut off room he had disappeared into earlier, and then back down towards the television.

She shook her head slightly and limped towards the door, grimacing every time she would step down on the sprain leg until she reached the door. She wrapped her hand silently around the doorknob, deciding she had an excuse to open it now, and try to sneak a peak at what he was hiding. She drew in a breath and twisted the knob and pushed open the door.

As soon as she had, Beyond slipped his hand over her eyes and gripped her arm, forcing her backwards. She gritted her teeth every time she stepped back on her injured leg again.

"I told you not to go in there," he growled, "Not to fucking go in there…"

Her arm had already begun to crawl with pins and needles. "Not to go in there," he had kept repeating in a low growl until her legs hit the arm of the couch. His hand left her eyes and struck the side of her face before he released her, letting her fall back onto the couch.

He stepped onto the couch after her, wrapping his hand around her neck as he pulled the gun from his pocket and she wrapped her hands around her wrist out of reflex, and he dragged her up towards the other arm of the couch.

Finally, all of time seemed to be at a stand still when he held the gun against her forehead and glared down at her, and she stared back with wide eyes.

When the front door downstairs opened and the creaking floorboards under feet sounded, Beyond looked up, alarmed. Nannie took this distraction to her advantage and shoved Beyond off of her. He landed with a loud thud on the floor. The television was knocked from its perch on a cardboard box and bounced off him before crashing to the floor. His eyes closed as he slipped under consciousness.

Nannie stared down at him with wide eyes still. The hesitant footfalls from below quickly turned into a hurried race towards and up the stairs. The door burst open and in came a panicked man in uniform. Nannie shot her attention towards him.

"It's you…" he murmured, studying her closely. "Holy shit, your face has been everywhere."

"What?" she demanded, glancing back down at Beyond nervously.

He ignored her and unhooked the radio from his jacket and held it in front of his mouth. "This is Officer Tibbits, calling for dispatch at the Old Mills general store off Wilshire Boulevard."

Nannie watched him apprehensively as he turned his back to her, and then stole a glance towards Beyond. Her eyes widened again when she didn't see him on the ground, and desperately scanned the room for him.

"Located the Keelahan kidnapping victim, and suspect is no--- Urk!"

Beyond reappeared behind the man in uniform and slipped his arm around his neck. When he began to struggle, Beyond rammed his knee into his back, causing him to lose his footing and fall back against him.

He tightened his arm around his neck, and the man's kicks at the floor grew weaker and weaker as his oxygen supply diminished by the second.

Finally, after what seemed like forever to Nannie, the man-in-uniform's eyes rolled to the back of his head and slipped shut, going completely limp.

Beyond dropped him to the wooden floor and stepped over him to get to the stairs, and soon after disappeared down them. Nannie could hear him rummaging through the junk downstairs, looking for Lord knows what.

She hesitated a moment, finding it somewhat calming that she could hear him, and then slowly began to stand up. She hobbled towards the other room, trying her best to push the pain of walking to the very back of her mind, and summoned all her courage to push open the door once in front of it.

She wasn't very impressed at first, as it looked to be the same layout as the current room she was in, until she took notice of the wall. It was completely covered with pictures, notes, and news paper clippings.

She slowly began towards it, Beyond's frantic search served as both white noise and a security blanket. She tore a picture off the wall and stared down at it. At first glance, it appeared to be a photograph of Beyond himself, but after staring at it for a short period, she noticed a difference. There was genuine fatigue in the subject's eyes that Beyond lacked.

Was he even an insomniac like he said he was?

She frowned slightly and, with the picture still in hand, she glanced back up at the wall and took a news paper clipping.

"Mystery solved thanks to great detective…?" she read the headline aloud.

She froze instantly when all sounds from below stopped, and without another moment's hesitation, she shoved the picture and clipping in to her pocket and bolted out of the room and dove back onto the couch. When the excruciating pain caught up to her, she began to shed tears.

A minute later, Beyond appeared in the doorway again, holding a gallon of gasoline. He brought it with him into the room and began drenching everything with gasoline until the carton emptied, and then tossed it aside.

From his pocket, he drew a box of matches, and struck one. He dropped the lit match on one of the few dry areas on the floor, and hurried back out.

Nannie watched him with red eyes and blurry vision until he lifted her from the couch and carried her out the door and down the stairs.

"What are you doing?" she protested.

He ignored her, hurrying down the stairs. He set her down again once at the front door and held it open, pushing her out. He followed her out and snatched the trash bag he had set aside prior along with her wrist, and half-dragged her towards the street and away from the building.

They had almost made it to the curb when it blew. They both instinctively ducked as debris flew in every which way. Nannie had used both arms to cover her head with, while Beyond had oddly enough slipped his arm around her back and drew her closer.

After half a minute, Beyond shot up again and dragged Nannie with him across the street to the Sedan.

~*~

"Why would they pick you, of all people?" Mello muttered, passing across the library floor. Matt had been sitting in a chair, eyes trained on the DS he held.

"Third's not so bad…" he mumbled.

"But second is still better -- no offense, Matt." He paused to look at him.

"None taken," Matt shrugged. "Roger said you and Near were asked to stay here and study, or something like that… Damn oxen…"

"Study? But you're behind Near and I, shouldn't you be the one studying?"

"Probably, but you two are so far ahead of everyone, we've kind of given up hope," he shrugged. "In a way, I'm number one of the Not-So-Highly-Intelligent kids here," he said with a slight grin now.

"… And so L asked for you personally?" Mello asked hesitantly.

"I don't know, I guess."

"Dammit…" he growled, running the side of his fist into the wall.


	5. Chapter 5

Two weeks had since passed, Beyond having found a new hideout in a forgotten back room of a loading dock that wasn't abandoned as the general store had, but was on the verge of it. Once they had arrived there, the trash bag he brought with him was opened and from it came an ace bandage and a few small bottles of tranquilizer. Beyond had a hand in the rapid healing of Nannie's sprained leg with the ace bandage, ice, and drug induced rest.

After a week, she was able to walk with no problems. Another week later, he produced two passports.

"What's this?" Nannie asked uncertainly when he threw one at her.

"We're going to England for a few days."

"England? I thought you'd want to go to Japan…" she frowned, staring down at the small passport before opening it hesitantly.

_Shiori Abernathy…?_

"Why would you think Japan?" he asked absently.

"Shiori?" she asked quickly, turning her attention back to him.

"You picked it out if you recall."

"Oh, yeah…" She did recall. A few days prior, Beyond had asked her what her favorite name was.

"Do you have business in Japan?"

"Hunh? Oh… No, I just thought that was where you wanted to go is all…" Nannie trailed.

She had been following the Kira case just as closely as Beyond had ever since discovering the picture collage of a wall. And since then, he seemed to be calmer, having a considerably less amount of violent outbursts. Possibly because she had stopped asking those pesky personal questions that had always seemed to spawn the outbursts, or the fact that he burned the collage, relieving some over-looming metaphorical shadow. Whatever the case, being the therapist that she was, she had a habitual inclination to ask questions, and the picture and news paper clipping were burning a hole in her pocket. She decided she needed to confront him about it sooner or later, or else she'd soon be insane herself.

"Why?"

"Uh, no reason…" she trailed.

"Nannie…" he warned in an annoyed tone.

She opened her mouth to speak reluctantly, but instantly shut it again at the sound of another voice just outside the door.

"Yeah, Jerh, I'll get it in just a minute," the voice said as it approached.

"Shit…" Beyond swore under his breath. He shoved the other passport into his back pocket and snatched the nearest blunt object; a crowbar.

"Beyond…" Nannie trailed apprehensively, frowning as she watched him move towards the door.

He glanced back at her briefly, and then quickly redirected his attention in front of him as the doorknob twisted. He tightened his grip on the crowbar, and swung instinctively the moment the door opened.

The person, now with a broken nose, fell to the ground and landed with a thud. Nannie caught a glimpse of a frown from Beyond as he stared down at the fallen boy before tossing the crowbar aside and reaching into his pocket. From it he drew a small knife with a retractable blade. He pushed the blade out and knelt down by the boy.

Nannie hadn't moved until then, hurrying towards his side and wrapping her arms loosely around one of his. "Leave him alone, Beyond…" she muttered.

Beyond frowned again as he looked back at her, and then shook his head, standing up and pulling the blade back in. He slipped his arm away from her and shoved his hands into his pocket, sulking off the pseudo backroom he had made out of the janitor's closet while muttering "Anti-climatic…"

Nannie watched him off wearily, and then glanced back down at the boy on the ground. Just as she was about to kneel down to check on him, Beyond had come back and grabbed her elbow, leading her towards the building's exit.

"Do you still have your passport?" he asked as he hurried towards the door.

"Uh, yeah…" she mumbled, struggling to turn around to better follow him.

Liam had fallen asleep at his desk again, waking now at roughly nine in the morning. He lifted his head lazily, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he leaned back in the chair. He'd have to find Nannie soon, the late nights were beginning to take their toll on him.

When his hands left his eyes, he noticed the computer screen was on, and a minimized window on the task bar was flashing orange. Frowning, he directed the mouse towards the complaining window and opened it. His email account filled the screen.

There was only one unread email at the top from Davis, with a subject reading 'Regarding Miss Haliburton.'

Liam's eyes widened and he jumped to open the message.

"It has come to my attention that you, Mr. Keelahan, on heading the search party for your wife…" Liam read aloud, frowning all the while. "If it isn't too much trouble, I would like to aid you in your search, for I have a personal gain in the recapture of Beyond Birthday. I have already sent a well-trained affiliate to personally be there.

"He will take you to a possible hideout of B's he and Miss Haliburton left yesterday afternoon. I have the utmost faith in his deductive abilities, there will be no need to fret when he comes… L…?" Liam frowned again.

Almost instantly after, the door bell rang. Liam jumped, startled, and hurried to answer the door after a moment's hesitation.

He frowned once again when he did open the door and stared down at his guest.

"Did you read the email?" he asked instantly.

"Uh… Yeah… Are you…?"

"Yeah, call me Matt," he replied, pushing past him and into the house. "Do you have anything important on the computer involving Haliburton?"

"Yes… A few reported sightings and other files…"

"Are they under two-hundred megabytes together?"

"I think so."

"Alright then, upload 'em on here," he instructed, tossing him a floppy disk.

Liam almost dropped it, earning a slight grin from Matt. "Right…" he nodded, and led him to the computer where he inserted the disk. "If you don't mind my asking… But how old are you?"

"Sixteen," he answered curtly.

"And how is it that L guy sent you to play detective instead someone a little older and more experienced…?"

"Because someone a little older and more experienced won't have the same training as I do."

"Do they have an extensive training course for kids up in England?" Liam asked smugly, thinking he had one-upped him by guessing the origin of his accent.

"Yes," Matt answered matter-of-factly.

Needless to say, it was short lived.

"Done yet?" Matt asked then.

"Yeah…" Liam muttered, ejecting the disk sourly.

"Good," he replied, retrieving his gun and pulling back the slide before shooting the monitor once and the CPU thrice. "Ready to go?"

"What the hell was that?" Liam snapped.

"L contacted you on that computer, and to avoid it from being traced, the computer itself had to be destroyed," Matt explained as if it were a mundane task.

"Then why the hell did he have to contact me through that? Why couldn't you just come up and tell me everything?"

"Because you wouldn't have believed it," he shrugged.

"Dammit! That was a good computer!"

"Yeah… I bet… Ready to go, then?"

"Fucking hell…"

"The car is out there…"

"Damn it all to fucking hell…"

"Right…" Matt sighed, retrieving a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and shook one out. He lit it and bit down on the end of it, shoving the pack back in his pocket. "Whenever you're ready…" he muttered.


	6. Chapter 6

"This is where he's been keeping her?" Liam asked with some disgust.

"That's what we're here to find out," Matt answered through the cigarette he held in his mouth.

"Aren't you a little young to be smoking?" he asked sullenly.

"Physically, maybe," he shrugged.

"Right… So what are we looking for?"

"Any DNA samples. Guy named Jerry reported that his friend had gone in here, and then he went looking for him ten minutes later and found him here alone with a broken nose," Matt answered, staring down at the blood stained floor. "This room is mostly forgotten among those that occasionally hang out here."

"And if we find their DNA, what does that tell us?"

"That they're still in California…"

"Where else would the be?"

"Japan."

"Why the hell Japan?"

"Strictly confidential."

"… What personal reasons does L or whoever have for finding Birthday?"

"If L wanted you to know, I'm sure he would have told you."

"You know, I don't know if I really trust this L guy… Way too secretive and sends smoking kids with guns…"

"That's nice…" Matt replied absently, dusting the doorknob for finger prints.

"What if they weren't here," Liam sighed wearily.

"I report it to L and we look for them still unless they are spotted in Japan."

"And if they are spotted in Japan? What then?"

"Then I go to Japan. You can come if you want, I guess."

"Won't I find out what you're trying to keep a secret?"

"Probably. In which case, your memory will be wiped… Haliburton's too, most likely."

"Then what's the point of withholding information?"

"Just in case," he shrugged. "I guess we're done here, then."

"What? Already? But you only have one thing of…"

"No, actually, I collected a lot of samples while you were busy talking away…"

"Oh…"

"So I'll just send them to Roger to check for B, and we can check for Haliburton…"

~*~

Roger strolled down the empty hall silently, thanking the high heavens again that all the children were finally in bed asleep. He often wondered why in the world he kept his job at the orphanage when he hated kids.

He pushed open the door to his office and frowned slightly to find the lights off. He moved his hand towards the light switch before pausing. "B…" he sighed, and then flipped the switch.

Beyond sat on the window sill in a crouch, his hands holding onto the ledge to keep from falling forward. He grinned slightly when the light was on, and stepped down carefully. "Are the kids running you ragged, dear old Roger?"

"It was a mistake coming here, B."

"It doesn't much matter, you're going to have to die either way. You're time is up."

"What are you talking about…?"

"I can see when a person dies."

"What?"

"I don't know much about it either, just that I can see everyone's name and death date floating above their head. Yours happens to be in a matter of minutes," Beyond explained, pulling a syringe from his pocket.

"B, they're going to know it was you, you're just racing towards the death penalty."

"It really won't matter to me when this is all over with," he sighed, advancing towards him.

"B…" Roger tried as Beyond wrapped his hand around his neck and forced him back into the wall.

"Quit complaining, you'll be knocked out---"

"Put him down, B," Mello growled, pointing a gun at him.

Beyond grimaced and gritted his teeth before chucking the syringe at him. The needle stabbed him in the shoulder, and created a long enough distraction for Beyond to grab the second syringe filled with air and stabbed Roger in the heart with it. After the air had been pushed out, he began to convulse instantly.

"Dammit," Mello muttered, tossing aside the gun and yanking the needle out. He dashed towards Beyond just as he dropped Roger, dead now, and stuck the needle in his neck.

The tranquilizer took almost immediate effect, and Beyond fell over backwards and unconscious. Mello stared down at him wearily before turning back to Roger and checking for a pulse. He sighed inwardly when he found none and hurried out of the room to find a phone.

Nannie wandered down the halls aimlessly, feeling the walls as she went. She had waited in the car for nearly two hours under strict orders to not leave the vehicle no matter what. She grew weary of waiting, however, and decided to ignore the instructions.

Both the plane and car rides just to get to this massive building were very unpleasant. _He's become a grouch again…_, Nannie thought sourly to herself.

As her hand brushed against a closed door, she felt a grainy texture that was absent from all the other surfaces. She brought her hand to her face to examine it, and discovered years and years of accumulated dust on her fingers. She frowned slightly and glanced back up at the door. She tried the doorknob.

"Locked… Of course…" she sighed, shaking her head in disappointment.

She continued on down the hall, having lost interest in whatever was behind the door, and stuffed her hands in her pockets. It was several minutes later that she happened upon the opened doors of Roger's office. She frowned slightly and hesitated before peering inside. Her eyes widened at seeing both Beyond and Roger laying on the floor with their eyes closed.

"Beyond…!" she exclaimed, rushing to his side first to check for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found it. She looked reluctantly towards Roger next, and checked for a pulse.

None.

"Dammit, Beyond…" she muttered, shaking her head again. She quickly grabbed both of his wrists and pulled him up with her to his feet. She wrapped his arm around her shoulders and her own arm around his waist, dragging him out of the room and back down the hall.

She hurried down the hall until she came down the stairs, and found it rather difficult to drag Beyond down without falling and tumbling down. She took it easy until she finally reached the bottom and rushed back out the front door. She continued her hasty stride all the way down the long walkway until reaching the car. She managed to get Beyond in the car they had rented, and rounded the front to get in the driver's side.

Nannie paused a moment after turning on the ignition and glanced back towards Beyond. She pulled out the picture she found on his collage and looked at it and back to Beyond again. She set the picture down and reached towards him, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt and wiping half of his face with it while being careful going around the burn scars. She frowned at the differences on either side of his face. His complexion underneath all the makeup was nearly a perfect tan color, a major difference than the paler skin she originally thought was naturally his.

She stared down at him for a moment longer before wiping the other side of his face and his hands, and then finally backed the car out of the driveway.

Mello had found a phone minutes after running out of the office and instantly called Watari. As he waited for the other end to pick up, he looked out the window. Coincidentally, he saw Nannie carrying Beyond out to the car.

"This is Watari," Watari answered then.

"Mello…" he replied. "Roger's dead."

"What?" Watari asked, alarmed.

Mello hung up the phone without answering, still watching Nannie with Beyond. After a short moment, he took off running again, down the hall and then the stairs. He hurried to the garage where he shoved open the door and snatched his helmet from the shelf just as Nannie was pulling out into the road.

He mounted his motorcycle and started it before slipping the helmet over his head. He then opened the automated garage door and turned the bike around to start out after them.


	7. Chapter 7

"For someone with an impossibly high I.Q., you can be so stupid sometimes, Beyond…" Nannie muttered, glancing down wearily at the fuel gauge. She had bee driving for hours into the nearing twilight, and Beyond still lay unconscious in the seat next to her.

"Although, I have to admit, I do find this all rather exciting…" she sighed. "Life up until now has actually been exceedingly boring. I thought offering therapy to the criminally insane would alleviate some of the boredom, but it all became so mundane too quickly…

"Until you came along, anyway. As cliché as it may sound, you were different from my other patient. You actually had intelligent things to say unlike the other half-wit idiots, and you didn't say anything about why you committed the crimes. I had actually begun to respect you, sane or not. But then you had to go and threaten to kill Liam and take me hostage…" she sighed.

Beyond had been awake during the time she spoke, opening his eyes to watch her through his bangs about half-way through her speech. When her gaze dropped, he followed it to the picture still on the console.

"I'd just like to know how he plays a role into your reasoning for killing those people…"

"Where did you get that?" he asked instantly, sitting up.

Nannie jumped, slamming on the brakes and swerving off onto the shoulder. "What the hell! I thought you were still asleep!" she snapped.

"Where did you get the picture?" he insisted. "From the wall?"

"Uh…" She shrank back against the door.

"Do you have anymore?"

"No…"

"Get out of the car."

"W-what…?"

Get out of the car," he repeated. "I'm driving now," he added, snatching up the picture and crumpling it into a small wad.

"Alright…" she stammered, opening the door and stumbling out.

She rounded the front of the car as Beyond climbed over the console and behind the wheel. As she stepped back inside the passenger side, he had taken the cigarette lighter out from the dashboard and lit the picture, and then threw it out the window, replacing the lighter. Once Nannie closed the door and buckled the seatbelt, Beyond pressed down the gas pedal and maneuvered back onto the street.

"… Did you hear what all I said…?" she asked quietly after a while.

"Yes," he answered bluntly.

"Oh…" she muttered, turning to face the window when she felt her face heat up. "Where are we going now…?"

"Japan."

"Really?" she asked, turning to him again.

"Yeah."

"You only came here to kill that guy?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"He was a bad man."

"By rule of society, so are you, Beyond…"

"Roger took part in that," he said with a slight smirk.

"How so…?"

"You remember the man in the picture?"

"Yes?"

"That would be L, great detective."

"I figured…" she mumbled under her breath.

"At the orphanage, Wammy's, we were taught to serve as backup copies of L, if you will. A, the closest thing I've had to a friend, I guess, killed himself due to immense pressure at such a young age."

Nannie stared at him silently with a deep frown plastered to her face, waiting for him to continue. And with a deep inhale, he did.

"I didn't want to settle with just being a copy, I wanted to be better than the original. That kind of demeanor was condoned, as they didn't think it possible to outrank L. Unfortunately, they were correct in their assumptions. The murders were committed to set up a mystery not even the Great L could solve, in which case I would have surpassed him in intelligence."

"I'm sorry…" she said quietly, still frowning.

"Save your pity," he sighed.

"Why are you telling me all this now when you wouldn't before, though…?"

"The way I figure it, if I don't make it, your memory will be erased off everything that's happened, and if all goes according to plan, there will be no one left to take responsibility if you do tell anyone."

"What do you mean, 'if you don't make it'?"

"If I'm killed before I get a chance to do what I need to."

"What do you need to do?" she demanded.

"Never mind…" he muttered.

"You're wanting to kill L, aren't you?" she snapped.

"Drop it, Nannie…"

"What'll you do after that? Try to kill yourself again?"

"That was the essential idea…"

"Beyond!" For reasons unbeknownst to her, her eyes began to brim with tears.

"Will you calm the fuck down? It will have no affect on you either way. You'll get to go back home with Keelahan and forget this ever happened."

"What if I don't want to go back home with Liam?" she snapped, glaring at him now.

"What the hell are you talking about? Why wouldn't you want to go back?"

"I don't know…" she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff.

"Dammit…" he muttered, begrudgingly pulling into the shoulder again and slowing to a stop. Nannie continued to glare down at the floor sullenly as he stepped out and rounded the car to her side. He opened the door. "Get out."

He hung his head when she ignored him, but leaned in to unbuckle her seatbelt and pull her out by the elbow. Once she was standing outside the vehicle, she fell against him and began crying. He stared down at her in bewilderment.

"Nannie, this is ridiculous," he sighed at last. "Just get in the back and lay down until we get there."

"Only excitement I'll…ever get, and you're…going to take that… away from me…you ass…!" she choked out in small sobs.

"Nannie, get in the back."

"No."

"In the back."

"Nuh-uh."

"Right now."

"Bite me."

"Nannie, look at me," he sighed, cupping his hands around either side of her face to force her to face him. Her eyes were red and her cheeks wet, forehead furrowed into another glare. After a moment's pause, Beyond leaned his forehead down against her own. "Please get in the back?"

"Nuh-uh…" she said, this time with less conviction.

He sighed inwardly, closing his eyes and shaking his head lightly. Nannie stared up at him uncertainly until he pressed his lips against hers. And just as suddenly as he had kissed her had he slapped the back of his hand across her face.

"Get in the back," he said again.

"O-okay…" she said quietly, holding a hand to her stinging cheek, and obediently climbed inside the car when he opened the door for her.

Mello had easily been able to trail them this whole time, and now found his chance when they had stopped. He drove the bike into the shoulder and then into the grass before cutting the engine. He dismounted the bike and carefully laid it down in the grass, along with his helmet.

He retrieved his pistol from one of the small cargo bags on the side of his bike and screwed on the silencer before stalking over towards the car.

While they were distracted, he crept to the trunk and held the muzzle against the lock and pulled the trigger. The lock popped off and the trunk open. He lifted the door slightly and slipped inside, closing it lightly again as Beyond helped Nannie back inside the car.

~*~

Liam sat in the computer chair with the side of his face down on his fist and his elbow on the desk beside the new computer. He was staring at Matt, tapping his foot up and down a little impatiently.

Matt had pulled a chair from the kitchen to the doorway of the study. He sat in it backwards and was in the process of calling Roger.

"No answer," he sighed, flipping the phone shut.

"We matched some of the finger prints with Nannie, shouldn't that be enough?" Liam asked.

"No, not really. We don't know if he traded her off to some other guy to hold while he goes off to do whatever he needs to do. It's better to know everything before taking any actions," Matt explained, flipping open the phone again. He held down the star button before holding it to his ear again.

"Watari."

"What's going on --- this is Matt, by the way --- Roger's not answering the phone."

"He's been reported dead, Matt."

"Dead? How did he die?"

"I'm not sure. Mello hung up immediately after telling me so."

"When was that?"

"Last night."

"Damn… I had some finger prints for him to analyze for me…"

"Ask L to do it, then."

"What…? Uh, no, that's alright…"

"He has a favor to ask of you anyway."

"A favor…?"

"Yes, hold on," Watari said, and with a faint "Ryuzaki," the phone was handed off to L.

"Hello."

"H-hi…" Matt muttered.

"Are you in company?"

"Yeah…"

"Answer in Japanese, then. What is it you need?"

"Uhm… _Kimi wa shimon o miyaru_."

"Very well, under the condition that you do something for me while Watari is away."

"_Hai_."

"Retrieve all the records from every known airport in California. Can you manage that?"

"_Ano… H-hai, so desu_."

"Thank you."

"_Do itashimashite_."

"Will that be all, then?"

"_H-hai_."

"Very well. I need to be going then."

Matt nodded wordlessly and shut the phone.

"Was that Japanese? Where'd you learn to speak that?" Liam inquired.

"Back home," Matt answered absently, dialing another number on the phone.

"Are your parents education Nazis? … Now who are you calling?" he groaned.

Matt ignored him this time and waited for the other line to pick up. "Mello!"

"Hey, I can't exactly talk right now…" Mello said in a hushed whisper.

"What? What's going on? Watari just told me---"

"That Roger's dead? Yeah, B came back to Wammy's…"

"B…?"

"Yeah. I've been following them since then, but it still isn't clear where they're going."

"Them? There's someone else with him?"

"Yeah, some girl."

"Shit… Where are you now?"

"I can't exactly tell at the moment…"

"Why not?"

"I'm in the trunk."

"…What?"

"Just go to Japan, alright? You can intercept him if I somehow lose him here."

"Fine… Just don't get killed…" he sighed wearily, shutting the phone again.

"Now what?" Liam asked irritably.

"I have to send L some files, and then we're going to Japan."

"They've been spotted there?"

"Something like that."


	8. Chapter 8

"Dharle…" L read aloud one of the names on the list Matt sent him.

_One, two, three, four, five, six… _Same amount of letters…

He drifted his gaze to the surname. _Choweayy… The third_. He sighed.

He gathered that this was Beyond's pseudo name, but would have to solve the puzzle to be absolutely certain, and there was no sign of Nannie on the roster.

He uncapped a marker and began writing on the desk.

"Ryuzaki, it's already three in the morning, what are you doing now?" Light asked wearily.

"Side investigations…" L answered absently. He had written the English Alphabet, and then Beyond's name under it, and under it was the stage name. _The third… The third… Third… _He frowned slightly, biting down on the tip of his thumb as he stared at the letters. After a moment, he drew and arch over B and C, and then another over C and D. _Two jumps… Not three… _He frowned again.

He continued on with the theory regardless and drew arches over the E and F, then the F and G, and then the G and H. _Three jumps… Two jumps, and then three… _He drew another set of arches over the Y and Z, and then another over the Z and looped it back to the A. Two…

"Ryuzaki," Light started when the door opened. They both turn to look over their shoulders just as a girl slipped through. L grimaced and turned back to the laptop, closing the window with the roster. Light had watched him do this from the corner of his eye before turning his attention back to the girl just as L had.

"Do you need something?" L asked regrettingly.

"I finally got around to printing out the list Matt sent you," she replied, crossing the room towards them both.

"Thank you," he said, turning around again, and dragged the laptop over the scribe on the desk.

"Sorry it's a little late, though," she sighed. "Acting as Watari isn't as easy as I thought." She set the list down in front of him.

"Perhaps Watari should continue to act as Watari and Ceres-chan goes back…"

"Awh, but I like it here," she frowned.

"Yes, I know," he sighed. When he saw her arm reaching over the chair, and quickly clamped his hand around her wrist.

"Calm down, it's not what you're thinking," she said quietly. He glanced back at her with hesitation, and she responded with a small smile. He reluctantly let her go.

She reached again for the laptop and pulled the window back up. "You already had it…"

"Yes."

"You think I'm doing a bad job…"

"Yes."

"Well tough, I'm staying until I get better at this or until you solve this Kira nonsense."

"Oh, happy day…"

"Cut the sarcasm," she mumbled, turning around to leave. Light watched her off, and waited until she was gone before turning back to L.

"Who was that?"

"Watari's temporary replacement while he is away."

"How did you find her on such short notice, or is she someone you already knew?"

"She was found on the side of the street panhandling."

"What?" he laughed. "Are you serious?"

"Mhm, very."

"Oh… That's a little anti-climatic, then, even for you, Ryuzaki."

"Yes, I guess so," L agreed absently, pushing the laptop off his work.

Nannie woke up to find herself seated and leaning against a wall with a slight curve in it. She frowned and lifted her head, and glanced down at herself. Her clothes had been changed and she was wearing a wig again. Frowning still, she turned her attention back to the wall, and took notice of the rounded window for the first time. Hesitantly, she looked out. She let out a yelp instantly, which was quickly muffled by a hand.

"Calm down, it's just a plane," Beyond muttered, bringing his hand back.

"But there's someone outside the window…!"

"What?" he frowned, turning to look out the window. "Nannie… That would be your reflection…"

"Hunh…? But I look nothing like that…"

"It's a mask."

"Really? Wow, so realistic…" she grinned, feeling the mask. "Who dressed me, though?" she asked, frowning again.

"I did."

"What? Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Believe me, I tried."

"I was that out of it?"

"Indeed."

"How much longer until we land?" she sighed after a moment of silence.

"About an hour or so."

"Oh…"

"So… You're planning to sneak into the airport and steal a helicopter instead of just simply buying a ticket and flying carter…" Ryo surmised as she leaned back against the all, her arms folded.

"Yeah, and look! I have blue prints!" Matt chimed as he laid out the blue scrolls on the table. He admired his handy work for a brief moment, and then fetched the pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He pulled one out and placed the pack away as he bit down on the cigarette, and then lit it.

Ryo watched him with a frown until she pushed herself off the wall and walked towards the table. Once there, she leaned over it and placed her hands down flat on the service to support herself. "How did you come across these, then?"

"Drew 'em myself."

"… Matt, I don't think that's how it works…"

"Oh, shove it. I was able to get all the surveillance feeds onto my laptop to draw this up with."

"How intuitive…" she sighed.

"So are you in?"

"Eh… I don't know… I think I'd rather stay here a while longer…"

"Really? Sure?"

"Yeah, just come back for me when you leave back home."

At this time, the prison guard opened the door and stepped in. "Time is up, go back to your sell, Ryo."

Ryo nodded and stood straight again. Matt frowned as he glanced back towards the guard before sighing through the cigarette and rolled up the blue prints again. As Ryo rounded the table, she snatched the cigarette away from Matt.

"Hey---"

"Stop smoking, you'll kill yourself before you get old," she muttered, dropping it to the ground and stepping it out before leaving with the guard.

He watched them off silently until they were out of sight and looked back down at the blue prints in his hand. "I should be so lucky…"


	9. Chapter 9

"Kid, this is illegal…" Liam voiced nervously.

"Belt up, alright? It takes a few breaking of the laws to get things done."

"We're still no better than Birthday now…"

"This is all for your wifey, isn't it?"

"Well, yes…"

"Then come on…" Matt muttered, hurrying towards the building.

Liam frowned to himself as he glanced up at the building before hurrying after Matt.

"This way, come on…" Matt whispered once they made it to one of the many hangars, and slid under the door. Liam followed after him reluctantly, and handed over the flashlight when asked on the other side.

"So, to get to the helicopters…" Matt trailed as he switched on the flashlight and pulled out the blueprints. "The helicopters are kept on the roof, obviously, but to get to them, we have to go downstairs, down this long hall here, then back up the stairs here, and then up these stairs. Simple enough?"

"… Hunh?"

"Just come on…" he muttered, rolling up the blueprints again and starting towards the door leading to the back office. When he was sure Liam was following closely behind, he continued on across the office and out into the hall.

"Which way?" Liam asked.

"Uhm… This way…" Matt answered, going left with the flashlight held in front of him. He led him down the hall towards the flight of stairs. Liam paused once there and stared down a second hall branch off just beside the flight. At the end, there were double doors.

"Hey, where do those doors lead?" he asked.

Matt glanced back up at him, having already started own the stairs. "What doors?"

"Those, down this hall."

"Ugh…" He searched the map for the hall, but bore no fruit. "I don't know, they're not on here."

"Not on there?"

"That's what I said, yep," he nodded, continuing down the stairs.

"How is it not?"

"Because there aren't security cameras every where…" he sighed, and then paused to look back at him again. "Comin'?"

"What if that's a faster way to the helicopters?"

"What if it's not? What if it leads right to the night guards' break room? It's safer to just stick with what on here…"

"Fine…" Liam muttered, and sulked down the stairs after him.

They wandered down the hall in silence for nearly thirty minutes before Liam began to doubt Matt's map making skills.

"Who was that you had to meet with before doing this?" he asked absently.

"Ryo."

"Who is that?"

"My ball and chain. She used to be a musician back in Italy…"

"Used to be? What happened?"

"She killed a few people," he shrugged.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask…" he muttered. "Look, there's the stairs, hurry up."

Liam frowned slightly but nodded, picking up his pace as Matt did.

Once up the stairs, Liam paused and glanced down a hall that branched off from the stairs just as before. "Kid, look…" he mumbled, pointing down the hall.

"Hm?" Matt asked, glancing over his shoulder. "Oh. Either way, it's still better to be on the safe side…"

"We could have saved a hell of a lot of time."

"Too late now. The helicopters are just up here."

"Where the hell have the night guards been anyway…?" Liam asked, following him up the stairs.

"Hell if I kn--- … They'll all out here…" Matt muttered after opening the door leading outside.

"Oh, fucking great…"

"No, no, this is fine… Just be very quiet and try not to get caught. See? Simple."

Liam glared after him as he began creeping against the wall before doing so himself.

There was one helicopter on the roof, and nearly ten guards hanging out up there as well. They had made it halfway when one of them headed towards it.

Matt scowled and hid behind a column. "Did you bring a flash grenade?"

"A flash grenade? No, why would I bring a flash grenade?"

"Why wouldn't you bring a flash grenade?"

"Because we're just nabbing a helicopter!"

"Shush!"

"Who are you two?" demanded a voice beside them.

"Oh, mother fuck," Matt muttered, pulling out a gun and shooting the guard. He snatched Liam's sleeve and dragged him across the other half of the roof towards the helicopter.

The gun shot had alerted the other guards, but rather than going to stop the two intruders, they all gravitated towards the fallen guard.

Matt released Liam once at the helicopter and quickly stepped in with Liam close behind.

"You shot him!" he snapped as Matt sat behind the wheel.

"He'll be fine, it wasn't a fatal shot… Or was it? I wasn't really paying attention, given the circumstances…"

"You don't even know if he'll live?"

"… He'll be fine," Matt repeated, starting up the helicopter.

"Do you even know how to fly this?"

"Sure, I've gone through the simulations several times."

"Simulations? Those are never like the real thing!"

"Sure they are!" Matt insisted, pulling back on the wheel and effectively lifting the aircraft off the ground.

"Holy shit, we're not going to make it…" Liam whined.

~*~

"Beyond, it's co-cold…"

"I know."

"No… Th-this is be-beyond cold. This is su-suuuper co-cold."

"I get it…"

"Are w-we almost th-th-there?"

"I don't know, I have to reacquaint myself with the layout of Tokyo."

"Well, hurry it up. It's freezing," Nannie muttered.

They had been walking around the big city in search of one of Beyond's prepared-in-advanced hideouts. Though, as fate would have it, the whereabouts had left his memory completely.

When they had got off the plane, Beyond managed to sneak two coats away from an unsuspecting tourist couple. But even with the heavy coat on now, Nannie couldn't stop shivering.

"C-can we st-stop for a m-minute…?" she asked after a brief moment of silence.

Beyond glanced down at her. "Why? I thought you were in a hurry."

"I-I am, b-but I'm t-tired… Just a m-minute?"

"Fine…" he sighed. He grabbed her wrist and lead her off the street and over towards a snow covered bench where they both sat down. Nannie laid her head down on his shoulder instantly and closed her eyes.

Beyond noticed this several minutes later and shrugged his shoulder. "Hey, don't go to sleep."

"Awh…" she complained. "Can't we g-go in-insi-side somewhere? There are st-stores everywhere…"

"None of them are opened. It's three in the morning, Nannie."

"So br-break in. Y-you've done it be-before."

"It's crucial to keep a low profile here, though."

"W-why? B-because of th-that stu-stupid L g-guy? Fuhgeddaboudit…!"

"Nannie… Are you alright?"

"No… It's freakin' c-cold…"

"Let's get going then…"

"W-wait, Beyond…"

"What?" he asked, glancing back down at her reluctantly.

She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him down towards her, and then pressed her lips quickly against his. He stared down at her, bewildered, until she pulled away finally.

"What the hell was that?"

"W-we're even n-now."

"You're lips are blue…"

"Huh?"

"Touch your little finger to your thumb."

"Why, w-what's wrong?"

"Just do it."

She frowned at him, but did as he instructed, and when she could touch the two, she looked back up at him. "What's w-wrong?"

"Shit…" he growled, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and slipping the other under her legs, lifting her from the bench in one swift movement. He began running down the street again in search of any kind of warm shelter.

"B-Beyond, wh-what's going…?" she trailed, fighting to keep her eyes open as her head lolled back down on his shoulder.

"Hypothermia," Beyond muttered in reply, hastening his speed as her eyes finally did shut close.

Fifteen minutes passed before he took a turn down an ally and stopped in front of the first door. He let Nannie's feet drop to the ground while still holding her up with his arm around her shoulders, and pounded on the door.

Instantly, there was complaining on the other side: "Fucking persistent solicitors…" before the door opened. Behind it stood a man in his early twenties with a blue pilot's hat pulled over his eyes and silver hair. The words 'Anzai Kyeong' floated over his head in red. "I'm not interested in what--- … What the hell?"

"She needs warmth," Beyond muttered, lifting her legs again and hurrying inside. Anzai watched him off with a frown.

"Uhm… Alright…" he said with confusion, hesitantly closing the door behind him. He followed Beyond's path into the first main room where he found him already starting a fire in the fire place while Nannie lay on the floor asleep. Once the fire was started, Beyond was out of the room again.

Anzai sat down in one of the armchairs, frowning as he stared down at Nannie while trying to make sense of every thing. Beyond came back in minutes with a wire hanger and an IV bag. He hooked the bag onto the hanger and contorted the hanger around a wall lamp.

"Where in the hell did you find this? I didn't even know I had that stuff… What's in the bag?" Anzai asked as he watched.

"Heated saline," Beyond answered, sticking the needle in Nannie's arm and taping it down with a cotton ball.

"…Saline? What's that?" Anzai asked, but Beyond had already left again.

When he came back again, he brought with him three blankets. He set them on the ground and carefully lifted Nannie into a sitting position before wrapping the blankets around her. He then sat on the floor behind her and pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her.

Anzai stared at them both silently, almost growing bored again until he noticed something was off. He instantly shot up from the chair and dashed out of the room. He ran into the study just beside the back door and snatched the black notebook that lay open on the desk, and hurried back into the main room.

"Look!" he insisted, holding the notebook out to Beyond, "I have one, too."

Beyond stared at it for a moment before looking up at Anzai again. "…What is it?"

"Don't play dumb, I know you have one, too," Anzai insisted and closed the notebook. "It's a Death Note, see?"

"A what?"

"A Death Note!"

"… What makes you think I have one?"

"I can only see your name, not your death date."

"What?" Beyond asked, bewildered.

"Here, see for yourself…" Anzai trailed, flipping through the first few pages before handing it to Beyond. "Read what it says on the top of the page."

Beyond took the notebook from him hesitantly and glanced down at the page. _An individual with Shinigami Eyes can see the name and life span of another human by looking at that person's face. By gaining ownership of a Death Note, and individual not only gains the ability to kill but also cannot be killed by the Death Note. From this point on, a person with a Death Note cannot see the life span of other Death Note owners, including him- or herself._ He skipped ahead two paragraphs and read on.

_Those with Shinigami Eyes will have eyesight of over 3.6 in the human measurement, regardless of their original eyesight. If you have traded for the Shinigami Eyes, you will see a person's primary life span in the human world._

"What is this…?" he frowned.

"… You honesty don't know?"

"No."

"Oh… Do you know who Kira is?"

"I know of Kira…"

"That's what he uses to kill the criminals."

"How do you know?"

"I work for Kira. He's still trying to get rid of L, but when he does, judging will be so much easier."

"L? Has he seen L? Does he know where he is?"

"Uhm… I think so… Why? Do you know L?"

"Yes, I do. Where is he?"

"Do you know his name…?"

"Yes, I know what his fucking name is. Where is he?"

"… Can I have it?"

"No, you're not going to kill him! I am! Where the fuck is he?"

"What? But I want to kill him! Do you know how appreciative Kira-sama would be? He might even get rid of that stupid Misa girl…" Anzai muttered.

"Just tell me where he is…"

"No! I need this! Just tell me his name, please?"

"Tell me where he is first."

"I have no idea where he is! I'd have to ask Kira-sama."

"Tell me where he is and I'll give you his name."

"Fine… I'll ask Kira-sama come morning…" Anzai muttered in defeat.


	10. Chapter 10

Anzai was sitting at the desk in the study hours later, staring at the small phone in his hands. He ran his thumb over the numbers as a form of procrastination. Frowning to himself, he finally dialed the phone number and held it to his ear.

As soon as it began to ring on the other line, Anzai quickly shut the phone and threw it at the wall, and ducking when it came back at him. "I can't call and ask him now…" he complained. "He's not Kira right now…!"

He sighed wearily and laid his head down on the desk. Kira had lost ownership of his Death Note, his memories along with it, and Anzai had no idea when it would be back. Thusly, he couldn't exactly ask him where L was without getting himself and Kira into trouble. He figured he could just give Beyond a random address, but would he go for it? He would have to make it believable just in case. It seemed to be his only option at the present time.

He pushed his chair back as he stood up and made his way to the other room slowly. He glanced around the corner hesitantly, only to find they both had gone and everything was cleaned up. There was no real signs that anyone had been there save for the card left on the floor.

Anzai frowned and walked into the room until he stood above the card, and stared down at it for a moment before picking it up. There was a phone number on it, and scribe underneath.

I expect to know where he is before tomorrow.

Anzai grimaced and tossed the card aside and fell back in the arm chair. "Stupid L… This is all his fault…" he muttered.

~*~

"It's not fair…" Nannie muttered, frowning slightly to herself as she stared up at the sky. Her hair was hidden under a toboggan hat and a scarf that Beyond had insisted she wear, as well as the gloves and an extra coat.

"What isn't?" Beyond asked absently, standing behind her with his hands in his pockets while staring down the street anxiously. He looked considerably less like a snowman than Nannie, with just a simple jacket on for warmth.

"The snow is so pretty, but it's ridiculously cold…"

"Are you cold?" he asked, looking at her now.

"No, I'm fine," she sighed, lowering her gaze to the snow already on the ground. "It's a shame it rarely ever snows in California."

"Perhaps you should consider moving when you go back."

"Maybe. Assuming I do go back, anyway," she shrugged, smiling then as she looked back at him.

"Why wouldn't you go back?" he frowned.

"Never mind. Do you remember your way around yet?"

"Not really. The last time I was here it was Summer and considerably less white…"

"When was the last time you were here?"

"A few years ago."

"Oh… Well, come on, let's keep going," she said, reaching for his arm and pulling his hand out of his pocket, and then dragging him along after her.

An hour or so passed in silence, and Beyond had taken back the lead with Nannie lollygagging behind. She had taken to twiddling her thumbs as means to suppress her psychiatric tendencies, but that was quickly losing its effect. She looked up at him through her bangs with another small frown before drawing in a breath and releasing it as a sigh.

"Beyond…?"

"Hm?"

"I wanted to ask you something…"

"What?"

"You said your mother died in a train accident, but you should have been on there with her, right…?"

"Correct…"

"But you didn't get on for whatever reason… Do you think that your mother could have possibly been the cause of the wreck? That she demanded the train be stopped when she noticed you were missing?"

"I suppose that's a possibility…" he sighed.

"If you had gotten on that train, she may even be alive now… Why didn't you get on the train?"

"It's complicated…"

"What could possibly be so complicated about not getting on a train?"

"Nannie, even if I did tell you, you wouldn't believe it. Just drop it."

She frowned at him before hurrying in front of him and stopping. "Try me."

"Not right now, you'll get hypothermia again."

"I'm not moving until you tell me, even if I get blue in the face," she insisted.

"… Fine…" he muttered. "While you were asleep, that Korean guy showed me something called the Death Note. In it I read about another something called Shinigami Eyes, which allow a the person with the Eyes to see any person's name and life span…"

"So?"

"So… I have those eyes, but I shouldn't. The note said the only way to get the Eyes is to trade them with a Shinigami, but for as long as I can remember, I've known everyone's name and when they would die. And I can only see in one shade of color apparently… He said it was red."

"… What?"

"On the day the train wrecked, my mother and I were moving out of Leeds. I knew she was going to die that day, but I didn't know from what until we got to the train station. Everyone there was going to die, and the only logical reason behind that would be from a train wreck. Thusly, I did not go on."

"You are insane, aren't you…?" she asked stoically. The wind had started to pick up quickly by then.

Beyond scowled and shot his hand at her neck, gripping it tightly. She grimaced as her hands flew up to his from reflex.

"Of course, everyone's at least an inkling insane," he muttered.

She opened her mouth to reply, but he had pulled her towards him and wrapped his arm around her waist as her pinned her between him and the brick wall. Immediately afterwards, a helicopter crashed into the street behind them.

~*~

"Shouldn't we be there already…?" Liam muttered begrudgingly.

"Yeah, but those many, many simulations didn't have a navigational system. I have no idea how to work that shit…" Matt sighed. "But the good news is, we've been over Japan for about an hour."

"Then why don't you land it already?"

"Because this thing is huge! You can just land it anywhere. I'm looking for large enough area to land, or an airport…"

"Do we even have enough fuel for that?"

"Of course we do…" Matt assured him as he glanced down at the gauge. " See? We've got… Oh… Fuck…"

"What…?"

"Uhm… Hmm… It looks a little populated down there…"

"Have you not been watching the fuel gauge?" Liam snapped, on the brink of panic.

"That wasn't a part of the simulation, leave me alone," Matt muttered, frowning as he flipped the Auto Pilot switch and hurried into the back.

"Where are you going?" Liam cried.

"Get back here!" Matt snapped back at him, snatching two parachutes from their hooks.

"Oh, hell, we're jumping?" Liam complained once in the back.

"No, are you insane? We'd jump right into the blades and get killed."

"Then what are we doing?"

"Employing airbags! …Of sorts…"

"What?"

"Here, just take this," Matt muttered, thrusting a parachute at him. Liam caught the bag and almost lost his footing.

"Stand right here in the middle, alright? Hold the parachute, facing you, out in front of you. Like this…" he instructed, pulling Liam's arms out to full length. He then hurried back to the cockpit to survey ground below, and then the fuel gauge again before flipping off the auto pilot. He caught himself on the back of the chair as the helicopter quickly tilted forward and began to fall.

Then with the parachute still in hand, Matt hastily made his way back to Liam and stood beside him, facing the opposite direction of him.

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"No, not entirely. But if you wanted a higher chance of it working, we can open the doors…"

"What would that help?"

"In case I misjudge the exact timing, the wind will keep the chutes distended to lessen the force of the impact…"

"Any downside to that?"

"The winds could be too strong and we be knocked off our feet without any time to regain foot and we crash without makeshift parachutes."

"What are the chances of that happening?"

"I'd say fifty/fifty…"

"… Do we have enough time to flip a coin?"

"Hardly.

"What are the chances you'll misjudge the timing?"

"Ha! You kidding? That's nearly impossible!"

"Then open the doors!"

"Oh, no time for that now. The altitude's too low. Do you have your hand on the release string? Ready at any given moment?"

"W-what?"

"The release string! That one, there…"

"Oh…"

"Ready?"

"Ah…"

"Now! Pull it now!"

"Shit…!"

~*~

Nannie cringed against Beyond when the plane crashed. After several seconds had passed and the dust settled, she opened her eyes again. She lifted Beyond's arm to see the damage just as he glanced over his shoulder to do the same. "Does this happen often? Japan really sucks…"

The crunched doors fell off the frame of the copter shortly followed by a body lost in a mass of nylon cloth.

"Are they still alive…?" Nannie frowned, walking out from behind Beyond.

"It doesn't matter," Beyond answered, snatching her wrist before she could go any further.

"But…" she started to protest, but cut herself short as she looked back at him and saw the look of dread that came over his face. "What…?" she frowned again, redirecting her attention to the wreck.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Matt asked after hopping out of the totaled aircraft unscathed. He was helping Liam up off the ground.

"If you weren't a minor, I'd strangle you…" he muttered.

"Liam…?" Nannie gasped.

"… Nannie?"

"Well, isn't that convenient?" Matt grinned wearily.

"Dammit, Nannie…" Beyond growled, tightening his grip around her wrist as he bolted down the sidewalk. Nannie stumbled after him, trying to keep from falling.

"Nannie…!" Liam shouted before taking off after them.

Matt watched them off contently for a moment before taking out his cell phone and flipping it open. He debated on whether to call and inform L or Mello first for a minute until he pressed the number five button three times and held it down, deciding it was best to contact L first.

"This is L," L answered after the first ring.

"Matt. B's been found in, uh… Japan just five minutes ago…."

"… That's unfortunate. I trust you'll arrest him before he finds the Head Quarters's location?"

"Yeah, we'll do our best."

"Let me know if things get out of hand."

"I will…"

"Thank you. I must go now."

"I, uhm… Understand," Matt nodded quickly just before the line died.

He let out a long and frustrated sigh, and then called Mello next.

Meanwhile, Beyond had dragged Nannie after him down a number of turns down streets and alley ways in an attempt to lose Liam. When he figured he had and remembered he actually didn't need Nannie with him anymore, he came to a stop in front of a church.

"Something wrong?" Nannie asked.

"No, nothing…" he sighed, dropping her wrist.

"Then why did you stop?"

"You can go home now if you want."

"If I want?"

"That's right, you have a choice."

"Then I don't want to go back just yet."

"… What? You don't want to go back?"

"No, I want to stay awhile."

"But I thought you'd want to go back…?"

"Nope."

"… Just go back, alright?"

"What? No, you gave me a choice!" she complained.

"You made the wrong choice," he replied, turning her around and pushing her forward.

"But…!"

"No, go back."

"Oh, fine…" she muttered, glaring back at him. "You're no fun anyway."

Beyond didn't respond, and watched her sulk off back down the way they had came until her hurried up the stairs of the church and disappeared inside.

Nannie had stopped after a minute and glanced back at the church. She grinned when she saw Beyond go inside, and hurried back to the steps and inside.

She paused once inside and glanced around, frowning. "Where did he go…?"

She figured in order to find him, she'd have to think like him. But how in the hell did his thought process work?

_Think… Think like Beyond… _What would he do first…?

Instantly, she moved to the coat closet, and checked behind her before slipping outside. _He'd get a disguise…_

She frowned again. "Why does a church need a coat closet?" she asked aloud, hesitantly making her way further into the closet.

At the end of the closet, there was a white ballroom dress and a smaller black dress hanging up on hangers. Nannie admired the ballroom gown, pulling it out some to let it flare out on the ground. "That's a long train… Almost looks like a… Wedding dress?" she frowned. "Dammit," she muttered, snatching the black dress off the rack without a second glance at it.

Beyond had traded in his attire for that day for a more formal suit he had stolen from someone else, as the circumstances had called for. Currently, he was standing at the front entrance, holding the door slighting a jar and peering out, searching for any signs of Liam.

However, he slammed the door shut when he jumped after hearing someone call his name. He spun around and glared in the general direction of where the voice originated. There he found Nannie hiding behind the coat closet door.

"What are you still doing here?" he snapped.

"I need your help…" she complained.

"You shouldn't be here," he muttered, crossing the room to her regardless.

"This dress is a little… Uhm… Promiscuous…" she mumbled.

"What are you talking about?" he sighed, moving the door out of the way. Behind it, the upper half of the dress was covered with Nannie holding her arms over her chest. The lower half was pleated and just barely reached her knees.

"This and the wedding dress were the only things in there," she continued.

"What's wrong with this one?" he asked, grabbing both her wrists and pulling them away from her chest. Instantly, he placed them back over her chest. "… What the hell."

"… Is it really that bad?"

"Are you sure that's not what was meant for the bachelor party?"

"…Awh, that's probably it!" she whined. "I feel so dirty now…"

"He put this on…" he muttered, pulling off his blazer and slipping it over her shoulders. She quickly slid her arms through before hugging the cloth to her.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Nannie?" Liam called from outside the church.

"Shit," Beyond swore, shoving Nannie back inside the closet. She let out a yelp as she fell over backwards and landed on her back.

He waited a moment, watching the door until the knob turned, and then hurried into the closet. He tripped over Nannie's foot and landed on top of her, and quickly kicked the door shut before mumbling "Sorry…" He planted his hands on the floor on either side of her and pushed himself up, and made to stand up, but Nannie held onto his tie to stop him.

"… What are you doing?"

She didn't say anything, and pulled on the tie and kissed him when he was close enough. It was a few seconds later that he pulled away.

"Stop it, you're married…" he protested.

Nannie rolled her eyes and shook her head before taking the two rings off her left ring finger. "There, happy now?"

"Not entirely…" he mumbled.

She grinned wearily briefly before pulling him down again.

~*~

Matt grinned contently as Mello slowed to a stop on a motorcycle in front of him. "Took you a while, didn't it?" he teased.

"Shut up and get in," Mello sighed, planting one foot on the ground to keep from toppling over. "Which way are we going?"

"That-a-way," Matt answered, poking his thumb in the direction behind him as he rounded in front of Mello and climbed into the side car.

"You don't know exactly where?"

"Not yet, but I have a tracker on Officer Blockhead, and he's chased after them," Matt answered, flipping open his phone again. The screen displayed a red dot continuously moving on an enlarged road map.

They followed Liam back to the church and left the bike out in front as they hurried inside.

"Keelahan, do you know where they are?" Matt asked once inside the main lobby.

Liam spun around to face them. "Kid! … Is she Ryo?" he frowned, side-tracked when he noticed Mello.

"Mother fuck…" Mello scowled, snatching his gun out from his pocket and pointing it at him. Matt snickered, and quickly lowered Mello's arm.

"No, _he_ is Mello."

"… He?"

"Don't you have some whore to find?" Mello snapped.

"Hey!"

"Belt up, both of you…" Matt mumbled. "Where all have you looked?"

"I just got here."

"…So then you haven't looked?"

"No."

"Great…" Mello muttered, rolling his eyes. "I'll go look upstairs, you two cover down here…"

Matt nodded and watched his friend off before turning to Liam again. "Know what to do?"

"Yeah…" Liam muttered.

"Good. Holler if you find 'em," he said before taking off down the hall.

Liam stared after him until he disappeared, and turned to the big double doors that lead to the service area. He began to open one until he saw the wedding taking place inside, and quickly shut the door again. "Shit…!"

He quickly ducked away from the doors and hit into the coat closet door. He frowned slightly and glanced over his shoulder at it before turning and hesitantly turning the knob. He opened and peered through, finding them both huddled up against the wall, Nannie's head on Beyond's shoulder.

"Nannie!"

They both shot their heads up at the sound of his voice.

"Dammit, Nannie…" Beyond growled, hitting the back of his head against the wall once.

"Liam…?" she asked frowning.

"So fucking close…" Beyond continued.

"Are you alright?" Liam asked, snatching his gun out of its holster and held it pointed at Beyond while holding out his hand towards Nannie.

She glanced at Beyond with a frown, and then back at Liam before reluctantly taking his hand and standing up. "I'm fine…"

"Kid!" Liam called over his shoulder, holding the gun with both hands.

"I'm unarmed, chill out…" Beyond muttered.

Matt came running up behind him, gun in hand already. "That was quick, good job… Mello!" he called.

Beyond placed his hand on the wall behind him and hoisted himself up just as Mello came back. In a matter of seconds, they had handcuffs around Beyond's wrists.

Nannie watched as he glared at the ground, frowning to herself. "I'm sorry…" she said quietly as Mello led him passed her.

~*~

An hour or so later, Beyond sat in a chair with his hands still cuffed behind him and his ankles fastened to the legs. In the dark room with him was Mello, Matt, and Ceres, all seated around a rectangular table with an opened laptop positioned in front of Beyond.

"Obviously the jail houses in the States aren't enough to contain you, B," L's synthetic voice said from the laptop. "Instead, you'll either have your memory wiped of everything completely, or you'll be sentenced to a life-term of solitary confinement. The choice is yours."

The other three looked at him expectantly, and when he didn't say anything they exchanged anxious glances.

"B… What will you choose?"

"... Solitary confinement."


	11. Chapter 11

After being arrested again, Beyond was taken back to California. He had been locked away in a padded room, complete with straight jacket, at a mental hospital. In the two months that had passed, Nannie had tried to make weekly visits with the claim that he was still her patient, but could only go so far as to see him through the monitors. Every week she went, he was always huddled up in the same corner with his head on the wall and a solemn look on his face. After a month had passed, she began to wonder if he had ever moved at all.

Now she sat at the desk in her office after hours, scrapping gun powder into a small ping pong ball. She grimaced when the door opened.

"Nannie…?" one of the front-desk girls asked.

"Yeah?" she sighed.

"It's really late, shouldn't you be --- … Are you making a bomb?"

"Just a small one."

"What on earth for?"

"To test it."

"For what?"

"A patient threatened to break out using a bomb, and how he would make it. I wanted to test it before I ease up on the therapy…"

"Oh…"

"You were saying?"

"Just that it's late… But I can see you're busy, sorry…"

"I'll be seeing you, then."

The girl nodded timidly and closed the door again. Nannie let out a sigh of relief, and poured a single drop of nitroglycerin into the ping pong ball. She waited a minute to let it sit before tossing it into the trash can across the room. The instant it hit the bottom it exploded, blowing up the trash can and lighting the surrounding areas on fire.

She grinned slightly until the fire registered in her mind. "… Oh, shit," she mumbled, quickly scrambling out of her chair. She hurried towards the flames and beat them out with the folder she brought with her.

The same girl as before burst the door open and stared wide-eyed at the charred ground. "… Are you going to be easing up on the therapy, then?"

"Yeah, I'd imagine so."

~*~

The following night, Nannie had set out a small brief case on the bed and had filled the left side with folders and folders of files. She was holding the news paper clipping she had taken from the first hide out, staring down at it with a frown. When Liam came into the room, she quickly stuffed it away in the folder on top, Beyond's files.

"Are you leaving for somewhere?" he asked with a frown.

She looked up at him and smiled wanly. "Yeah, business trip down in Orlando."

"Psychiatrists have business trips?"

"Yeah, go figure, hunh?"

"Are you sure you're alright? You haven't acted like yourself since you've been back…"

"I'm fine," she assured. "Just busy is all."

"Then why don't you take off from work?" he asked, slipping his arms around her waist. "It's the reason you were in that whole mess to begin with."

"Because it's all I really have left," she answered, smiling wearily at him from over her shoulder. She then unhooked his arms and closed the case. "I'll only be gone the weekend."

"He didn't do anything to you…did he?"

"No, he was against it at first."

"… At first?"

"I have to go now, alright? I'll call you when I get there," she said, leaving the room. She handled the brief case carefully as she left the house so as not to ignite any of the bombs hidden inside of it.

~*~

Nannie arrived at the hospital an hour later and now stood in the owner's office, watching the few monitors on the wall behind the desk. There were five, all surveying the padded rooms. Of the five, Beyond was the only one not pacing around or thrashing about on the walls.

She had thrown together a disguise with what she had learned from her time with a master of disguise. After all, it was uncanny how he nearly replicated the detective in the picture. She had put on a black wig and a facial mask with padding along the cheek and jaw bones. There were now creases in her forehead and crow's feet at her eyes, aging her appearance considerably.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" came the unenthused voice of the hospital's owner, Leland Arkham. He strode over to the desk and sat down.

She held out her hand to him once he sat down. "My name is Samantha Walter," she greeted, shaking his hand firmly.

"Very nice, now… How can I help you?"

Nannie smiled wanly. "I'm here about a patient here in this hospital…"

"There are many. Please be specific."

"A Mr. Birthday? I was sent here to see him."

In an instant, Arkham's humorless expression dropped. "By whom?"

"Anonymous, sir."

"Mhm, I see…" he sighed, and stood up. "Then I don't necessarily have any obligations to let you see him, now do I, Miss Walter?"

"Why wouldn't you let me see him?"

"You mean you don't know?" he asked with exaggerated surprise.

"Know what, sir?"

"Why, he's in confinement currently."

"Fine then, I'll wait. When is he to be released? A week or two?"

"Birthday is to never be released."

"Never? Surely that's against the law!"

"The orders were given by someone above the law in some cases."

"By whom?"

"Anonymous, Miss Walter," he smirked.

Immediately afterwards, Nannie tossed one of the smaller bombs behind her. She ducked when it exploded against the wall behind her.

"My word, Mr. Arkham! Just what kind of facility are you running here!" she snapped. She glanced up at him just before he darted out of the room, noticing the grave look that washed over his face.

She grinned slightly when he was gone and hurried out of the room. She cut the corner of the main lobby and pushed through the door leading to one of the halls, and carefully made her way down to the very end.

There, a white concrete door stood tall with a narrow slot in the middle. Nannie slid open the door to the slot and peered through, finding nothing in that particular padded room. She stood back again and grinned, carefully opening the brief case and taking out the bigger bomb. She paced backwards a few steps before chucking the bomb at the door, and then turned and duck before the explosion.

Chunks of concrete went flying everywhere. Nannie waited until they stopped falling before darting back into the room where she found Beyond huddled up in the same corner as she expected.

"Beyond!" she cried, grinning ear to ear as she dropped down to her knees in front of him. The grin slowly dissipated, however, when he didn't stir or open his eyes.

"Beyond…?" she asked, frowning now. She held one hand over her mouth while she reached the other toward him hesitantly and looked for a pulse.

When she did find it, her eyes narrowed into a glare and she brought her hand back to slap him across the face. "Wake up, you asshole!"

Beyond cringed slightly and reluctantly opened his eyes. "Fuck, you got old…"

"What? How did you know it was me?" she frowned.

"You're not very good at acting outside of your personality," he muttered, settling back against the wall. "Now go away."

"But I came to bust you out…!"

"And a sloppy job you did. Go away."

"Why? I thought you'd want to get out…"

"The last thing I want to do right now is deal with you."

"Why?"

"Because you are an ignorant, fickle little annoyance that doesn't quite know what they want. Leave me alone."

"Fickle? Me, fickle? You're the one being fickle!" she snapped, smacking him again.

"Not to mention violent…" he mumbled.

"Seriously, how am I fickle? _You're_ the one that wants to give up on life just after two months by yourself!"

"Yes. Very nice. Go away."

"Oh, come on already…" she muttered, grabbing the collar of his straight jacket and dragging him out of the room and down the hall.

"Hey, stop that…" he frowned, struggling to get out of her grip. "Help…! I'm being kidnapped…"

"Would you shut up?" Nannie snapped, glaring back at him. "…Beyond?" She frowned when she saw his head had fallen limply forward. She let go of the jacket and he fell backwards, eyes closed again.

"Did you faint…?" she asked incredulously as she leaned over him. With a frustrated sigh, she slipped her arms under his and quickly dragged him back out into the lobby.

"There! There she is!" Arkham shouted to the wall of guards behind him, pointing at Nannie.

"Awh, shoot!" she muttered. She dug out the smoke grenade from the pocket of her pencil skirt, and held down the handle as she pulled out the ring with her teeth. She threw it at them and the grey smoke soon filled the room. In the confusion, Nannie managed to find her way back to the front door with Beyond in tow.

~*~

"… Again? Alright, I'll let him know… Yeah, thanks… Bye." Ceres folded her phone and set it on the table before resting her elbow on the arm rest and massaging the bridge of her nose.

"This is getting so ridiculous…" she muttered, shaking her head and pulling the legal pad and pencil on the desk closer to her and quickly scribbled a single-sentenced message on it. She tore the paper from the pad and folded it in half before rising from her chair and crossing the room towards the door and slipped through.

She crossed the second, darker room silently until she came to where L and Light sat in front of the many monitors mounted on the wall. She slipped the sheet of paper under the keyboard in front of L, and turned back towards the other room.

L glanced down at it absently, and then towards Light from the corner of his eye. He had been staring after Ceres at that time. L frowned slightly, but turned back to the paper and pulled it out and unfolded it. After reading what was written, he folded it again and stepped down from his chair.

"What's wrong?" Light asked instantly.

"Nothing, don't fret," L sighed, already heading towards the doors. Light frowned as he watched him until he disappeared behind the doors.

"You beckoned…?" L asked once in the other room.

"Yeah. Beyond's escaped again!" Ceres complained.

"That's unfortunate…"

"Oh, don't act like that," she mumbled.

"Like what?"

"Like you don't care!" she snapped. "You've got half the world out to kill you and you brush it off as some minor convenience…!"

"It was in the job description."

"Then quit…"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm L---"

"With a dozen of handfuls of successors."

"That are too young currently."

"Oh, shove it. Watari told me you were eight when you first started making millions…" she muttered.

"Can we discuss this when I'm less busy?"

"When will that be?"

"When the case is solved, most likely."

"You'll be dead by then, most likely."

"I'll talk to you later, Ceres-chan…" he sighed, opening the door and slipping out before she could say anything else.


	12. Chapter 12

"How could manage to go two whole months without eating?" Nannie scolded.

"Dunno…" Beyond replied dully, his forehead down on the round table they both sat at.

"How are you not dead?"

"Dunno…"

"Why are you so stupid sometimes?"

"Dunno…"

"Is that all you can say?"

"Yep…"

Nannie let out a frustrated sigh. "Do you have any plans yet?"

"Plans don't get things done."

"Why do you say that?"

"I had a plan to beat L, but I failed and ended up with a few dozen scars."

"But you got so close as to opposed to how you came without a plan… Assuming those few weeks were based on impulse…"

"I came just as close."

"What? How?"

"I have a connection to Kira, who knows where and wants L dead."

"When did that happen?"

"You were blue in the face with hypothermia."

"Oh… So then who is Kira?"

"Dunno…"

"Oh, please don't start that again…" she muttered, holding her forehead in her hand. She jumped slightly when her phone began ringing, and retrieved it from her pocket sluggishly.

"Who in the hell is this…?" she frowned as she stared down at the caller ID.

"Lemme see." Beyond lifted his head from the table and reached across. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand towards him to see the phone. A second later, he snatched it out of her hand and flipped it open.

"Who do you know that would call my phone?" Nannie asked incredulously.

"Kyeong?" Beyond asked, ignoring Nannie completely.

"How did you know it was me?" Anzai complained on the other side.

"Who the hell is Kyeong?" Nannie questioned.

"Do you know where he is?"

"L? Yeah, I do."

"Where who is?"

"Then where is he?"

"He's in a building he had built for the Kira case off of Oume Highway, across the Nakano F Building."

"Who is he?"

"You're sure, then?"

"Yeah. But Kira wants to meet with you first."

"Beyond, what's going on…?" Nannie complained when he finally folded the phone and handed it back to her.

"Nothing important," he answered absently, standing up from the table and walking out of the room.

"…What? Where are you going? And when are you going to take off that stupid straight jacket?" She scowled when he didn't answer and shot up to her feet, darting after him as he disappeared in a different room.

She shuffled out of the room and down the hall towards the other room, and frowned when she found Beyond sitting down at the bench in front of a piano. "Wow, I didn't notice that… How did you know that was here?"

"I've been here before," he answered bluntly.

"When have you been here?"

"Do you recall looking for the hideout when here last?"

"… This is it? No way! I was just looking for abandoned reality in Japan…"

"How did you find that?" he asked incredulously as he pushed up the sleeves of the jacket.

"Google," she shrugged.

"Of course…"

"Can you play, then?" she asked, stepping further into the room. She was soon seated beside him on the bench.

"Clearly," he muttered, hovering one hand over the keys.

"How long?"

"It was required at the orphanage to learn."

"Why?"

"It was the best way to learn music theory."

"Why did you need to know music theory?"

"Just in case."

"In case of what?"

"Never mind," he sighed, and pressed his fingers to the keys.

"… When was the last time you played?" she asked after a minute.

"It's been a few years."

"Why so long?"

"Been busy with other things."

"Like what?"

"Do you ever stop talking?"

"Sorry…"

"Press that key."

"Which one? This one?"

"No, a half step up."

"… Hunh?"

"The black key next to it…"

"Why didn't you just say that?"

"It's common knowledge. I figured you already knew."

"Oh, shut up…"

"Just press it?"

"Why?"

"Because I don't have a third arm. Is it really that hard?"

"Maybe it is!"

"You've reached a new level of pathetic…"

"That's not nice…"

"Neither are you."

"How so? I broke you out twice now!"

"The second time I wasn't very particular on escaping, however."

"I swear, you act like such a girl sometimes…" Nannie muttered, leaning her head against his shoulder.

~*~

"So how'd he get out this time?" Ryo asked Mello absently with her head down on Matt's shoulder. The three had been sitting on a bench outside, Matt in the middle with his elbows on his knees as he played a game on his DS, and Mello on the other side of him.

"Same way, I guess. Haliburton broke him out," Mello sighed.

"And how long ago was that?"

"Two days ago."

"Did she break him out of her own free will this time?"

"She had to have… Beyond was allowed no contact with anyone. He had no way of communicating with her."

"Awh, fuck…" Matt muttered when he ran into a Game Over.

"Hey, Matt…?" Ryo began.

"What?" he sighed.

"Quit smoking?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Please?"

"Nope."

Mello sighed inwardly as they continued on, and turned the other way. He frowned slightly when he noticed an orange sheet of paper with black print stapled to a lamp post. "Matt…" he started, standing up hesitantly.

"Yeah?" Matt asked.

"Your picture… It's everywhere."

"…What?" he frowned before taking notice of all the orange "Have You Seen Me?" papers everywhere. "Shit… How'd we not notice that before…?"

"Who would have your picture?" Ryo asked, also frowning.

"That doesn't matter right now, just take down all the fliers," Mello ordered, already hurrying off to begin taking them down.

Matt and Ryo quickly followed his lead, splitting up to get the task done faster. The fliers were concentrated in that on particular area, luckily for them, and had collected them all in half an hour. They met back at the bench.

"There's a number to call…" Mello pointed out.

"Fuck, it's like a lost dog poster…" Matt muttered.

"Calling them?" Ryo asked when Mello took out his phone.

"Yeah…" he sighed. He held the phone to his ear, waiting for the other end to pick up. "Who is this?" he demanded when they finally did.

"… Who is this?" they questioned with some alarm.

Mello frowned. The voice sounded vaguely familiar. "… Keelahan?"

"The hell? Keelahan?" Matt frowned.

"Who's that?" Ryo asked.

"Is this one of the genius kids?" Liam asked.

"Uh… Yeah. Why are you looking for Matt?"

"I found that bug he put on me, and managed to sneak it on Nannie's person before she disappeared again. I need help finding her again."

"Y-you did?"

"Yeah. I'm in Japan already. I'd assumed you two would be also."

"Yes! Where are you?"

"At the Ueno Train Station."

"Great, we'll find you there," Mello said quickly, and then hung up the phone.

"… So, uh--" Matt started.

"We know where B is! We can catch him again before he finds L!" Mello grinned.


	13. Chapter 13

At the crack of dawn the next morning, Nannie lay fast asleep in bed with the covers up to her chin and her head hidden under the pillows. Beyond had been sitting at the foot of the bed with a flashlight in hand after having found Nannie's briefcase.

At first he had taken to fiddling with the homemade bombs he found in the lining of the case until his name on the top folder. He dropped the smoke bomb he had been holding onto and hesitantly grabbed the folder and opened it. Nannie's notes fell out.

He glanced back towards the bed momentarily, and then gathered the notes and read them.

In the first session, he doesn't speak at all. Just glares at the ground. It's rather boring…

Second session - nothing new. How do they expect me to declare him sane enough for capital punishment? I'm beginning to think sign him off as sane; he's wasting my time.

He skipped ahead a few pages, and read on.

He talks more about the jail house than his childhood or the like, unfortunately. It's annoying, but at least he's talking still. He says he spends his time in the library whenever possible. I have to admit, he's one of the smartest people I've met. He also speaks of Liam often. I feel as though I'm not nearly as worried as I should be.

"One…?" he frowned, and then skipped ahead more pages.

It's odd… I've found myself talking less like a professional psychiatrist, and more like your average person. I have even opened up a little to him. It's ridiculous.

I look forward to our weekly sessions now. My heart palpitates every time that particular hour draws nearer so much that I feel as if I may pass out. If I had ever felt this way about Liam, I may actually feel concern, but there is nothing to worry about.

Right?

"Beyond…"

He shot his attention back towards the bed at the sound of his name, but found nothing out of the ordinary. He furrowed his brow and frowned before turning back to the brief case and quickly stuff the papers back inside and closing it, sliding it away with his foot. He turned over onto his hands and knees and crawled to the side of the bed, and then finally stood up. He removed the pillow Nannie was hiding under, and slammed it back down. "Wake up."

"Five more minutes…" came her muffled complaint.

"No. Now."

"What's the rush?"

"We're off to kill L today."

There was a slight pause.

"You don't want to hold off on that for just a little longer?" she asked after removing the pillow.

"Not at all. Can't risk getting caught again by your annoying little stalker, can we?"

"But you'd also be racing to your death… That doesn't sound to terribly fun, does it?"

"Quite contrary; it sounds very appealing right now."

"Oh, don't say that. You don't mean it."

"Oh, but I do."

"Beyond, why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You keep changing your accent… One day it's American, the next it's English… I think there was even Irish thrown in there once…"

"Habit, I suppose. Now, are you coming or staying?"

"Oh fine, Death Row…" she muttered, chucking the pillow at him before rolling out of bed.

~*~

"An abandoned asylum? That's where she is?" Liam frowned.

"Fitting, isn't it? But, according to the tracker, this is it," Mello answered. "Right Matt?"

"Yep," Matt replied dully, taking out his phone and flipping it open. "Right---… Oh, well, hmm…"

"… What?"

"She's not here anymore…"

"You haven't been keeping an eye on that?" Mello snapped.

"Who the hell would think they'd be up at the crack of dawn? I sure as hell don't wanna be," Matt complained.

"Calm down… It's too early to be shouting…" Ryo mumbled.

"Well… We'll check inside anyway, in case B's still here," Mello reasoned.

"Can't I go on to find Nannie?" Liam tried.

"No way! B's ape shit crazy, we need all the man power we can get," Matt said.

"Fine, then let's hurry up and get this over with…" Liam muttered, sulking inside.

Inside, the deteriorating building was much smaller than its outward appearance had perceived. The halls were narrow and the grey wall paper was peeling off the walls, exposing the wood paneling behind.

"This place is fucking creepy…" Matt muttered as they treaded down the halls.

"So is your room, but you seem fine with that…" Mello sighed.

"His room's not that bad," Ryo frowned.

"When have you been in his room?"

"Shut up, Ryo…"

"Why the hell did I have to be stuck with kids…?" Liam muttered to himself.

"Hey! Surely we're not that much younger than you are," Mello snapped. "How old are you?"

"Forty."

"… Forty? Seriously?" Matt asked, grinning slightly. "How old's Haliburton?"

"Thirty-one," Liam sighed.

"Isn't that a bit of an age gap…?" Ryo asked.

"Look, we didn't find the stupid killer here, can we please move on?"

"Wait…" Mello frowned, trailing off into what was understood to be a kitchen.

"Oh, bullocks!"

"Heh, that's a British term! You catch on quickly, eh?" Matt grinned.

"Keelahan, he left a note behind for you…" Mello said.

"What does it say?" he frowned.

"He wants you to read whatever is in your wife's briefcase."

"Where is that?"

"I remember seeing one in the bedroom," Ryo offered, and quickly stepped aside as Liam hustled back to the bedroom. He came back, a look of distress plastered to his face as he shuffled through and read the several pages in his hand. He leaned his back against the wall and slowly slid down, dropping the papers beside him and held his head in his hands.

"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad…" Matt mumbled, picking up the papers. "… Oh, hell!"

"Is it really that obvious so quickly?" Liam frowned, looking up at him.

"Her handwriting… It's awful!"

"Give me that…" Mello muttered, snatching away the papers and skimmed over them all. "Well, that's unfortunate for you, Keelahan…"

"What is it?" Ryo asked.

"Haliburton's notes on B. From the looks of it, she's smitten with him."

"… How old did you say she was again?" Matt asked, glancing down at Liam again.

"Thirty-one…" he muttered.

"And isn't B younger than L?"

"Yeah. He's twenty-one, if I recall correctly," Mello sighed.

"You guys are wiping their memories of all this, right?" Ryo asked, frowning as she stared down at Liam. "You can forget all this and things'll go back to normal, right?"

"Yeah, whatever…" Liam muttered, snatching the papers from Mello and stuffed them in his pocket. He hoisted himself to his feet and stalked off out of sight.

"… Well, I guess it goes without saying that B's a total jerk off now."

"Matt, shut up… Let's just get going."

~*~

After having lost Nannie in the large crowds of Tokyo twice, Beyond had decided to tie the sleeve of his straight jacket to her wrist, increasing the attention put on them twofold.

As Beyond shoved his way through the mass of people towards the headquarters just up ahead, Nannie watched the graying sky with concern, holding tightly to the umbrella Beyond had snagged for her.

"Beyond… The sky is going to open up and rain the apocalypse on us…" Nannie frowned.

"Shove it, we're almost there…"

"And there goes the rain…" she muttered, opening the umbrella as soon as the down-pour began. "Beyond, get back here! You'll get sick before you even get a chance to do your dastardly deeds!"

"Can you not see the instant canopy of umbrellas? I'll be fine."

"But you're not under it, you're so tall…"

"Quit nagging already," he muttered. "Hurry up, it's just the next block."

"Oh, yay…" Nannie mumbled.

Beyond hastened his pace, pulling Nannie along behind him. In a matter of minutes, they were standing in front of the building. He grinned himself as he stared up at the building in awe until Nannie stole his attention again.

"We going in so we can get this over with, then…?" she muttered.

"Yeah, I'll be needing my arm back, though," he answered, glancing back down at her.

"Hunh? Oh, right…" she mumbled, untying the sleeve from her wrist. The instant he was freed, he was inside the building.

"Ugh, men… Always have to kill something…" she muttered, following after him.

The main entrance had led into a small room with pair of steel doors in front of them, bolted shut, and a small LCD screen on the wall next to it with numbers underneath. Beyond studied the doors momentarily before pushing back his sleeves to reveal a gun in his hand. He pulled back the slide and shot the LCD screen. The doors instantly slid open.

"Where do all those guns come from?" Nannie complained in the background.

Beyond quickly snatched her hand and dragged her into the lobby. From there, the top floor was visible through all the staircases above them.

"Whoa… Now I'm starting to understand the acrophobics by just looking up there…" Nannie frowned.

"L's in here somewhere… Come on."

~*~

"… He never showed up…"

"Who didn't?"

Misa was laying on her bed with her chin in her hand and her legs folded with her ankles crossed in the air, sifting through a magazine absently while Anzai paced back and forth in her room.

"Mr. Weird Name or whatever! He never showed up! He'll rat out Kira-sama without even knowing it!"

"How is he going to rat out Kira?" Misa frowned, glancing up at him now.

"Because he doesn't know what he looks like, or than he'll even be there when he goes to kill L! Just one momentarily, confused and-or shocked glance towards him, and then L will be all over him!"

"Ew…"

"Not like that…"

"What are you going to do about it, then?"

"I don't know… But if he does get caught, Ryuk will kill him…" Anzai sighed.

"What?" she snapped, jumping instantly off the bed. "Light-kun can't die!"

"Now you see the dilemma!" he cried, grabbing her shoulders. "We have to do something!"

"Like what?"

"I don't know… Maybe there's something in the Death Note… Quick, get it out."

"Alright," she nodded, turning around to retrieve the note hidden under the mattress. She handed it off to him.

Anzai quickly flipped through the first few pages, reading the rules as fast as he could. "Well… Here's something…"

"What? What is it?"

"It says here that if you write a person's name in the note wrong four times, they can't be killed by a note, but…"

"But what?"

"The writer dies…"

"Oh…"

"Yeah…"

"… You'll be the one writing it, right?"

"Me!? I provide him with custom transport!"

"Who the hell cares about that? I have the Shinigami Eyes."

"So do I!"

"And I'm his girlfriend. Light-kun loves Misa-Misa. He'd kill you if he thought you killed me."

"… That's a cheap shot! Unfair!"

"Guess you better do it, then!" Misa chimed.

"… Fine…" he mumbled, sulking over to the desk with the note. "Just don't desecrate my body or anything…"

"Ew, yuck…"

Anzai set the note down on the desk and opened it to a blank page, and grabbed a pencil. "Hey… Before I do this… How long was I going to live for?" he asked, glancing back at her.

"About a few years…"

"Right…" he sighed, turning back to the note and wrote down Light's name four times, each time misspelling his name.

Seconds later, he collapsed to the ground.

~*~

"Ryuzaki! Ryuzaki!" Ceres called, hurrying out into the monitor room. L sighed inwardly and lowered his chin to his knees as everyone else turned to look back at her. "… Why are you wet?" she frowned.

"It's raining outside…"

"What were you doing out---"

"Is there something you need, Ceres-chan?"

"B's here!"

"In the building?" he frowned, lifting his head and looking back at her.

"Yeah!"

"Who is B…?" Matsuda asked.

"He's on monitor thirty-seven…" Ceres said.

"Mogi-san," L instructed, turning his attention back towards the monitors as Mogi changed the screens. Sure enough, there was Beyond and Nannie, half-sneaking their way through the halls. "Their close…"

"Whoa, Ryuzaki… He looks just like you… Only if you were insane and possibly thrown in an oven…" Matsuda mused.

"What happened to him…?" Light frowned with some disgust.

"He tried to kill himself," L answered bluntly, spinning his chair around and stepping down in front of Ceres. "Ceres-chan, you must go back now. It's dangerous here now," he said in a low mumble.

"What…? It was dangerous here already…"

"More so now. Go back."

"Where? The other room? What is that going to fix?"

"England."

"What? You're not finished here yet…!"

"Ceres-chan…"

"No… You're not finished yet…"

"Ryuzaki, he's right outside…" Soichiro informed.

L glanced over his shoulders at the monitors in time to see Beyond shoot at the lock before his heart stopped beating.

"Beyond, please don't do this…" Nannie tried as he pried the door open.

"Too late now," he grinned as he finally pulled open the door. On the other side of the door, however, L had already died. Light had caught him as he fell over, leaving Ceres to watch with her hands held over her mouth.

"…What?" Beyond frowned.

Ceres glanced up at them and lowered her hands. "Guys, go get him! I'll stay with Ryuzaki…"

"Ryuzaki!?" Beyond snapped as Nannie began to drag him away. "That fucking son of a bitch…!"

"Please stop yelling, we need to get away…" Nannie mumbled.

"He stole my name, dammit!"

"Yes, he's a bad man. Can we go now?" she pleaded.

As they came to an intersection in the hallways, a gunshot had been fired at them, and they had both ducked away down different halls.

"You missed!" Matt cried. "How could you miss? They were right there!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Mello snapped. "Go after B, Haliburton isn't important right now." Matt and Ryo both nodded, and the three took off down the hall after Beyond.

Beyond had, meanwhile, taken a stumble down a flight of stairs. His focus had been lost entirely after seeing L die by someone else's hands.

When he landed at the foot of the stairs, he grabbed onto the handrail and lifted himself up to his feet. He peered over the rail hesitantly until the three appeared on the stairs.

"B, stay there!"

Beyond glared up at them silently before leaning over the railing and kicked himself over it. Ryo was the first one off the stairs, and so the only to witness as Beyond fell down five stories before whipping his sleeve onto another rail and swung himself back into a hall, where he then tugged his sleeve loose and disappeared again.

"Where'd he go?" Mello demanded.

"…Down there… Four or five floors down?" Ryo answered.

"How did he…?"

"Fuck it, just find him…" Mello muttered, taking off again. Matt sighed inwardly before heading down a different hall. Ryo watched him off, waiting until he was gone before glancing over the railing again.

Hesitantly, she climbed up onto the railing and dropped down, grabbing onto the same railing Beyond had swung himself over. She grinned slightly to herself once she was on the floor again, glancing over the railing again to survey the fall she could have had.

"Come with me," Beyond said quietly, slipping his arm around Ryo's neck and held a gun to her temple.

"Shit…" she muttered, glaring at the floor as she was dragged off.

"How'd I end up alone…?" Matt mumbled as he wandered down a hall. He came to another flight of stairs several minutes later and started down them. Half way down, his phone began buzzing in his pocket. He paused with a frown, and fished the phone out of his pocket. He flipped it open and held it to his ear. "Ryo…?"

His frown grew when all he heard was a dial tone. "Buggar…" he muttered, sprinting down the stairs.

When he was in a new hall, he opened every door he came across, but to avail.

It was nearly twenty minutes later that he did finally find them both.

"Can't I just go now…?" he heard Ryo complain.

"Not until Nannie shows up…"

Matt grimaced, and pulled the gun from his pocket and opened the door. Beyond had instantly reached for Ryo and dragged here away from where she sat and held the gun to her temple.

"Let her go…" Matt growled, pointing the gun at him.

"If you shoot, I shoot," Beyond warned.

"Let her go and I won't have to shoot."

"Go away and she'll be fine."

"I can't trust that."

"Matt, just shoot him!" Ryo snapped.

Beyond cringed as a loud bang filled the room, embracing for any kind of pain. He hesitantly glanced back towards Matt when none came.

Matt had frowned slightly, lowering his arm as he glanced behind him. Nannie was standing behind with a gun in her outstretched hands, tears streaking her cheeks.

The gun slipped from his hand then and he fell face-forward as Nannie threw the gun down and dropped to her knees, holding her face in her hands.

"Matt…!"

Beyond grinned when he saw Nannie and shoved Ryo aside. He crossed the room quickly, stepping over Matt and snatching Nannie's wrist, dragging her to her feet and off down the hall again.

Ryo hesitantly crawled towards Matt when they were gone, and gently shook his shoulder. "Matt…?"

Beyond flew down the halls, acting as if he had a clue as to where he was going, but finally gave up after the third dead end. Instead, he led Nannie into a room and closed the door after them.

"I don't think we'll be getting away from this…" he frowned, glancing out the window.

"Beyond…" Nannie whimpered as she stared at the ground wearily, waiting until he had turned around to face her before collapsing against him. "I-I shot him… He's going to die, Beyond…" she mumbled.

Beyond stared down at her with a frown before hesitantly wrapping his arms around her. "He's was going to die anyway, whether you shot him or not," he sighed.

"B-but _I_ shot him… I don't kill people… You do…"

"Here, sit down…" he said quietly, helping her to the floor. Soon, they were sitting side by side on the floor with a window behind them. Nannie had laid her head down on Beyond shoulder, staring out at nothing wearily until Beyond retrieved his gun again.

"… You doing it now?" she asked, frowning.

"What?"

"Killing yourself…"

"Oh, yeah."

"Shoot me, first…?" she asked, staring up at him now.

"What? Why?" he frowned.

"Because I killed a kid… There's no living with yourself after that…"

"There's only one bullet left, though…"

"Can't you do both of us at the same time, then…?"

"Maybe…" he sighed wearily, laying his head down on hers and held the gun to his temple.

"That'll work…" she said quietly.

"Yeah…" he muttered, slowly taking the gun away to where she wouldn't hear him and placed it under his chin.

"Before you shoot, though, I just wanted to say…" she started, shifting her head to glance up at him, "I love you…"

He glanced down at her from the corner of his eye and grinned wearily. "You, too," he replied.

Nannie's eyes widen as the fact that the gun placement had moved registered just he pulled the trigger. The bullet took out the window, leaving what little glass was left and parts of the surrounding wall coated in blood. His head fell limply forward, and more blood ran down his neck and from his mouth.

"No…!" Nannie snapped, instantly in front of him and holding his face in her hands. "No, dammit…! You were supposed to take me with you! Asshole! No!"

~*~

Nannie stood in her office a year later, depositing her small child into the crib set up there. She wanted to avoid hiring a baby-sitter for reasons currently unbeknownst to her, and since Liam had work in the jail house, the baby was to stay with her in the office. She grinned wearily down at the child before turning back to her desk.

On the desk she had left a newspaper clipping she had found in the house a while back. She felt it had some deep significance to something she just couldn't remember. In fact, for the past several months, she felt as if she couldn't remember a major part of her life anymore. It left her clinically depressed.

She sat down absently and reached for the clipping. She sat back and leaned her elbow on the arm and her chin on her hand as she stared down at the old clipping wearily. Moments later, her door opened and Liam stalked inside.

"Liam…?" she frowned, "I thought you didn't get off---"

"I read your notes," he muttered, dropping the wrinkled papers along with divorce papers on her desk.

"…What? What notes? Where did you find them?"

"They were stuffed in one of the cabinets."

"Whose are they…?" she asked, taking the notes from the desk and skimming over them. "…Hunh?"

"She's his, then, too, isn't she…?" Liam sighed, nodding towards the crib.

"Shiori?" she asked, frowning again as she looked up at him. "I-I don't… What?"

"Never mind, don't worry about it…" he said wearily. "Just get yourself a lawyer…" He turned around after stealing a glance towards the crib and left the office without another word.

Nannie watched him off silently and waited until he was gone to read the notes again. "…Beyond?" she frowned, looking back down at the news paper clipping.


End file.
